Well, Mexico played a fantastic game, scoring almost immediately and then taking Argentina 120 minutes, but ended up losing what might have been the best match of the World Cup so far. This means (after the humiliation of BOTH the US and Czech Republic failing to advance to the Round of 16) that all three of my favorite teams have been knocked out. Germany put Sweden away in the first 12 minutes earlier today, which sets up what could be one of the strongest pairings for the whole tournament with a Germany v. Argentina match in the quarterfinals.
Of the teams that remain, my new loyalties lie with Ghana, England, and Argentina (especially against Germany). And, while cheering for Brazil seems a little too close to cheering for the Yankees, I do love watching them play and certainly wouldn’t be too upset if they won themselves another one. I do love that there is one hegemon in football and it’s not some European team or the US or something, but a team from South America.
In other Mexico news, I finally got around to loading my pictures from the Mexico trip onto my computer, and I’ll post a couple of them tomorrow (hopefully) when I have a better internet connection and can load the images.
For now, a band that I’m a little bit late to post on (I think May was the designated month for bloggers to hype them), but I’ve been enjoying them so much that I wanted to post now, even if I’m coming a little late to the show.
Sambassadeur sure sound French (the name, the vaguely Bohemian instrumentation), but they turn out to be Swedish, most reminiscent of another great Swedish band, The Cardigans. They write insanely catchy indie-pop songs, a little bit of twee and a great beat, along the lines of some of my other current favorites: Camera Obscura, The Young Republic, etc.
For your listening pleasure, here’s a couple songs from their most recent EP Coastal Affairs, which is available at www.labrador.se.
KateThink Nothing Of It
These are perfect songs for a beautiful summer day. Listen to them, relax, and enjoy the sunshine.