Many were already regarding the second semi final as a far superior affair even before last night’s show. The result will be seen as positive by many of Eurovision’s ‘Old countries’ but is already being taken badly in some of the unlucky nations.
QUALIFIERS FROM SEMI 2
UKRAINE (drawn 18th in final)
CROATIA (drawn 9th in final)
ALBANIA (drawn 3rd in final)
ICELAND (drawn 11th in final)
GEORGIA (drawn 17th in final)
DENMARK (drawn 16th in final)
SWEDEN (drawn 15th in final)
LATVIA (drawn 14th in final)
TURKEY (drawn 12th in final)
PORTUGAL (drawn 13th in final)
The moment when Jovana asked the audience who they wanted to take the last final spot will probably go down in Eurovision history as one of the contest’s most memorable. Not because it was such an earth shattering question or because of the way she asked it but simply because the audience answered in one voice "PORTUGAL". The usual response to that sort of question is a heavy dull roar from the audience who are all at odds with each other trying to shout their country’s name the loudest.
We now know that one country was saved by the jury vote from last nights semi and that means that we will have our first test of how the country that finished tenth takes the news. Many are already surmising that the jury choice was Albania or Portugal but the guessing will have to continue till the early hours of Sunday morning when we are likely to find out the full results from the two semi finals. Svante Stockselius already confirmed at a press conference on Wednesday that the jury choice made no difference to the result in the first semi final as the highest jury ranked entry that failed to finish in the top nine actually finished tenth.
For the moment it appears as if the two semi final system has made a difference with the best spread of countries in the final since the semi final system was introduced in 2004. Many of the countries have had a major change in fortune. Portugal and Iceland have qualified from the semi final for the first time ever, Albania and Denmark have done so for the first time since 2005. FYR Macedonia’s fortune changed for the worst with this being the first year that they failed to progress since the introduction of the semi final.
Tension is now mounting for the final with this now being perceived as the most open contest in quit some years. Ukraine is starting to edge out Russia as the fans predicted winner and Sweden could have something to say about it as Charlotte has been drawn to sing 15th, the same slot where she garnered victory in 1999.
