poptimists | DEFENSIVE NAIVETY COSTS ANGOLA DEAR

Group D Initial Matches

Angola boss

martinskidmore was left to rue his side's sloppy marking as their first Pop World Cup game ended in emphatic defeat to a rampant Iran. With the group stage only a third over there is still plenty of time for Angola to catch up to their other Group C rivals but the result confirms Iran as a team to watch: Angola could simply find no way past them, and at the other end Iran's controversial striker netted a brace to leave them sitting atop Group D. Commentators wondered, though, whether the Iranians had peaked too soon.

In the other Group D match a confident Mexico side had enough quality to beat Portugal, though it was a tight, tactical game with few chances at either end and Portugese manager

thebopkids may well feel the result was unfair on his cosmopolitan team. The Mexicans meanwhile will be pleased with this bright start to the campaign and the forthcoming clash with Iran promises to be one of the games of the tournament so far.

(The initial reports are based on the first 8-10 votes. Vote here to influence the course of Group D.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

-- that they will continue to be a strategic surge of surprises and satisfactions to the very end, and that all who ponder tactical match-play this early sould reflect on what yet may be:
*Iranian crowd chant*
Make your choice adventurous stranger
Strike the bell and bide the danger
OR WONDER till it drives you mad
what would have happened IF YOU HAD

I wonder how much TACTICAL VOTING is being done by other countries who do not wish to see Pop Giants (eg Sweden/Holland) go through in case they meet them in the next round? I personally am glad to see the "neu" countries doing rather well but if they can't maintain their stamina later on...

is all cop till the foes drop

is NOTHING compared with our American leaders'!

rampant, did you say?

Does that T-shirt read: "That's Hot / Your Not"? I don't understand -- what about my not? (An Pedant writes)

An heiress cannot be expected to lower her mind to the finer points of the English language when she is concentrating on POP WORLD CUP GLORY.

As a non-aligned non-playing state, the people's republic of byebyepride wish it to be known that they are perfectly prepared to vote tactically should sufficient incentive be forthcoming. (Otherwise they will throw their weight behind the Heroic Folk of Iranistan and laugh while the Civilized World burns).

Again I wonder if my vote has been counted - I may be the only person to have slightly preferred Angola's effort to Iran's! I should say I think I would've been more generous to Iran had the sound quality of the file been better as this got a bit annoying after a couple of minutes. Also I dare say the Iranian manager's arrogance in pre-tournament press conferences has been some sort of influence. Also I may be Africa-biased. Hurrah!

Your vote has been counted.

The interim reports are written in an special code known only to me that reflects the scale of the points gap at this point - contrast Angola's prospects with Costa Rica's at this stage for instance.

some of the "reserved-for-sukrat" iranian items come from beloved much-played 50s vinyl recorded onto ultra-low-res digital 40 yrs later through a crust of dirt and crackle and ambient noise, where the mic placement choice seems to have been "here on the windowsill near the traffic and well away from my terrible old broken speakers"

(THE WORLD IS NOT YET READY for the GIANT er RAT of SUKRATRA ect ect) (but it totally will be in a month or three)

also shouldn't it be Iran vs Mexico and Portugal vs Angola first, like in the proper World Cup?

Our adherence to this 'proper world cup' only goes so far.

I would like to highlight here that mere hours after the brave Angolan manager alerted the world to the sinister Iran dictator's plot to reverse the polarity of ley-lines and deploy nanobots against his enemies, i.e. ALL OF HUMANITY, the Angolan manager found the LINES connecting him to the rest of the competition MYSTERIOUSLY SABOTAGED, very possibly by nanobots, I shouldn't wonder. Also, I think he has replaced both our centre halves with slow-witted vegetable based android simulacra, and was mind-controlling the referee - but obviously there are no sour grapes at this end, and we accept our so-called defeat in good grace.

yes also i have been struck with some sort of mysterious plague in the last 24 hours, all signs pointing Mullahwards. I picture him on his fortress throne fondling the buffed skulls of his thwarted enemies before unleashing a horde of winged hobnoblins half a mile up the road to the Togo training camp. Fly my beauties, fly! etc.

mmm buffed skulls!

Make your choice adventurous stranger

I first read this as "Make your choice, adventurous stripper," owing no doubt to the glorious rise of "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)" in the USA.

The Nihil Apparelator

DEFENSIVE NAIVETY COSTS ANGOLA DEAR

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No T-Pain No Gain