World Cup Semifinalists National Anthems

July 3rd, 2006 | by: WC Bob |

It is one of the great moments of the World Cup. The referees lead the two teams out of the tunnel and onto the pitch where the players line up next to one another. There are children holding the flags of both countries and the crowd is on its feet. The music strikes up. We see close up shots of the players, some singing like they are drunk in a karaoke bar at 4am and some hardly uttering a word. What are the words to those anthems? Here’s the music and lyrics for the final four teams.

My favorite remaining anthem has to belong to France. “La Marseillaise” has just the right mix of blood, violence and call for more blood. It also recalls a simpler time when we were all socialists or not socialists. The tune is excellent the players seem adequately fired up after singing about traitors and conspiratorial kings. I know I am too.

In second place, I would put the national anthem of Italy. “Il Canto degli Italiani” is a lively tune that implores us all to be ready to die for Italy. If that doesn’t make a player want to get a boot in for 90 minutes, I don’t know what will. The Italian players sing their anthem with much passion as if they were alive during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The third place medal for anthems goes to Germany, which has moved away from the traditional talk of war, blood and guts, and instead focused on the verse about unity and happiness. Who doesn’t like happiness? Sure beats world domination. The music has just the right mix of earnestness and bombast.

Someone has to finish last and in this contest it is Portugal. This is not to say that the anthem of Portugal is a bad one. To the contrary, it is top notch. It suggests that we all race to our arms and fight for the homeland. After hearing it a few times I am almost ready to sacrifice some blood for Portugal. The tune could be a bit better, but you can’t go wrong by following a call to arms with a poetic line like:

The rays of that powerful dawn
Are like a mother’s kisses
That protect us and support us
Against the insults of fate.

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http://www.juoum.blogspot.com Juoum

A PORTUGUESA!!!

Heroes of the sea, nobleman people,
Brave and immortal nation
Raise again today
The esplendor of Portugal!
.
Between the mists of the memory,
Oh Motherland, it feels the voice
Of your prominent grandparents
That will led you to the Victory!
.
To the Weapons, to the weapons!
Over the land, over the sea,
To the Weapons, to the weapons!
Fight for the Motherland
Against the cannons march, march!

Sorry Bob, it´s better to put it all!!

FORÇA PORTUGAL!!!
Bobbio

They’re out now and so not one of the canditates for analysis, but one thing I’ve always wondered whenever watching England sing “God save the Queen” before their games is weather they’re singing the national anthem of England or the UK. The other Home Nations: Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland sing their own unique anthems for their matches whilst England uses the song of the entire Kingdom. Is this a case of England lacking its own anthem or the UK being blanketed by the English national anthem?
Brian

http://www.ihateronaldo.com/images/ronaldodive.gif
MP

Bob, great post, I do enjoy your work here.
The enthusiast up there (Juoum) made a more or less accurate translation of out national anthem, but the piece you selected is from a part of the song that is never sung officially (the part Juoum translated is). One of my favourite parts, but it would make it too long and people would pass out on matches…
Wink
Bobbio

Anyway, here is a particularly lovely version of La Marseillaise sung by Mireille Mathieu:

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/joesoldiers/01%20La%20Marseillaise.wma
Bart

I like the French anthem and German. These must be the most beautiful.

But can you speak about a ‘French’ team when almost everyone is from non-french descent ?

The team seems be more ‘noir, noir, noir’ than ‘blanc, beur, noir’.

I mean isn’t there any quality amongst the ‘french’ population at all ?
Kevin K

Bart, sports stars usually come out of poor social classes because that’s one of the few ways they can escape their lot in life.
Mark

Bart, so Vieira and Thuram were not born in France, but they were both raised there. Malouda and Makalele are from French departments. According to your born in a country theory, Klose and Podolski, both born in Poland, are wrong to play for Germany? Henry, Zidane, Makalele and the lot are just as French as Barthez and Sagnol. You sound like radical National Front leader Jean Marie Le Pen whose outrageous demands for an all white team are racist and bigoted, and nullify the concept of inclusion stressed in the world cup.
pao

as an italian i must admit our anthem’s lyric posted are not the right ones. You have just to change “we are ready to die” to “we are ready to dive”.
carisa

Ha ha Pao! i agree!! :D
William

Bobbio – a good answer can be found in this Times article.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2252302_1,00.html
http://www.worldcup-blogger.com MuhammadZainul

I like the France especially the Chorus part:

Aux armes, citoyens !
Formez vos bataillons !
Marchons ! marchons !
Qu’un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !

Allez les Bleus!
Chainsaw Charlie

Men, i just realised. National Anthems sound like Manowar lyrics. They sound less cheesy the more beers you have :P
Matt

The most important sentence in La Marseillaise is :
“contre nous de la tyrannie,
L’étendard sanglant est levé”
Meaning the French will fight for their freedom against oppression, as they did before (well, a couple of centuries ago…) ; it’s a brutal song, but against brutality. So (-) + (-) = (+) ;)
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/big-question-which-current-coach-was-the-best-player.html#comments Pedro P

Bob, “A Portuguesa” was not written by republicans. It was writteen by Alfredo Keil, a half german half portuguese (lyrics) together with another portuguese (music).

What happened is that around that time, there was a party – The Republican Party led by Afosno Costa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afonso_Costa

– which was determined to put the blame of all the country’s miseries in the monarchy. Portuguese King Carlos was actually still family of the english royal family.

As this party gained strength (the king was eventually killed and the republic implemented), the republicans took over this anthem, because it was full of self believe and patriotic spirit.

The musicians were therefore seen as revolutionaries, which they were not. Indeed, the pink map affair and the brittish ultimatum ashamed the country, as this was Europe’s oldest military treaty (Treaty of Windsor, binding ENG and POR, since 14th century). Portugal was thus betrayed by the english, who forced the portuguese to abandon the lands in Africa. POR had first gottten there in 1415, Ceuta, (the north of Africa).

The statues of important national figures were “dressed” in black, as the people considered Portugal was in mourning, because of that…
William

I thought the Portugese only left Angola and Mozambique in 1975. I don’t understand how this squares with your claim that the English forced the Portugese out.
Sylvia

Sheesh, and I thought the Mexican anthem was bad. And to think people complain about a few “bombs bursting in air”!
http://ITALIAWorldChampion Pierluigi Grosso

SIAMO I PIù FORTI DEL MONDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
ITALY WORLD CHAMPION 2006!!!
Sean

What is the name of the song that played when France received its 2nd place medals???
Amanda

I’m looking for the same song Sean is…. it played in the stadium while France received its’ medals… thanks!
Shaaaaaaaaarp

Come on yallll…help out Amanda for me
Amanda

I got it. It’s called Love Generation, by Bob Sinclair