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…

Forget Wayne Rooney, Kaka or Lionel Messi, the real star of the World Cup is none other than the humble Vuvuzela. Toot toot!

Thus far, the plastic trumpet has proved more memorable than the opening concert and the two opening matches. It may irritate the hell out of me by the time the final comes around, but right now, it’s amusing me greatly.

A word of advice to English fans though. If you bring a vuvuzela back from South Africa, you are likely to get a thump within seconds of blowing it at any English football match next season.

Check out this informative video about the vuvuzela – paying particular attention to 1:06…

England take on the USA in South Africa tomorrow and what better way to prepare than by listening to this cracking World Cup anthem from… California!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the wonderful San Franciscan band Eux Autres with their lo-fi ode to all things football – “World Cup Fever”. And not an oval ball or World Series in sight.

Pretty cool video too.

Remember the weekend before last when it was really sunny? That’s when I realised how close we are to the World Cup. Because, for the first time this year, my day was interrupted by the worst invention known to man – THE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT SONG.

The neighbours were outside and thought “Three Lions” followed by “Vindaloo” was a suitable soundtrack to a sunny Sunday BBQ. They were wrong.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against football. I’m a football fan. How else do you explain me previously having a season ticket at Northampton Town!? But what I do object to is god awful money-making songs featuring some washed-up celebrity claiming to “support our boys”.

However, there is the odd exception. The most well known of these being of course, World In Motion by New Order.

The idea of having a respected group make a football song that wasn’t about football was unheard of at the time – and hasn’t really been replicated since. It’s far from perfect – John Barnes rapping still makes my hair curl now – but it’s streets ahead of anything else.

So with just ten days to go until the World Cup kicks off in South Africa, watch the video below, paint your face, and join me in the nearest pub to buy me a pint and shout COME ON ENGLAND!