Can it be true? Is California really the new home of the football song? Hot on the heels of Purple Amp’s favourite footie anthem of 2010, Eux Autres’ lo-fi wonder World Cup Fever, comes this little ditty from Weezer – REPRESENT!

Now I’ll level with you, I have a soft spot for the US team. I’d go as far as to say they’re my second team after the obvious, something i can only admit now both sides are safely though group C. And as Weezer are one of my favourite bands, there’s an obvious interest here.

Represent is typical Weezer fare and wouldn’t be out of place on Raditude. It’s simplicity – you do wonder if Rivers penned it on the back of a fag packet over a beer – is key to the song’s appeal. But the promising start is let down by the climax of the chorus. Although the lyrics read “But thats just one more reason to see that it matters whether you win or lose”, because of the way the chorus is constructed all you really hear is “whether you win or lose” – hardly the inspiring stuff of champions.

One question the song fails to answer – and places it in the same category as so many England football songs of the past – is what do you do with a football song video? The Represent video is an uncomfortable mix of clips of the US team taking on the giants of world football (like, err, Costa Rica and Turkey) and Rivers Cuomo in typical charity record “doing-my-bit-hand-on-headphones” pose.

Check it out for yourself…