World Cup 2010: The Third Place Playoff and Its Unlikely Participants

Naturally Uruguayan and German fans are a little deflated following narrow losses in their respective semifinals, but there is still the matter of the largely meaningless bronze medal game. 

Perhaps leaving with something will act as consolation for one of these respective teams.

The gloom surrounding the fans is still palpable, but taking things into perspective, things could be worse.

Who of the South American fans could have predicted doing this well in the World Cup? Uruguay exceeded expectations by advancing as far as they did, topping a difficult group, and negotiating some tricky games on the way to the semi. 

This Germany team had very little expectation going into the tournament, and by the semifinal loss there is sadness at not winning the whole thing. The team has grown together, and the youthfulness of it means that it is in good shape to go into Euro 2012 as one of the favourites, and it can still be largely intact by the next World Cup.

When these teams face each other on Saturday it will be with a feeling of anti-climax, thoughts of what could have been, but both should be proud of their achievements in this World Cup.

Germany

The Germans will welcome Thomas Mueller back into the side following suspension, while Miroslav Klose is doubtful following an injury. It would be a personal tragedy for him not to play as he is one goal shy of Ronaldo's record goal tally. If he does play, he may well eschew his normal unselfish style and go all out for beating the record.

The team will hardly be overly enthusiastic about this game, Lahm has already said as much, but Joachim Loew will be keen to take a second consecutive World Cup medal home and is likely to start his strongest team. That said, expect substitutions if Germany are ahead as an opportunity for the players with little game time to gain some international tournament experience. 

Uruguay

Uruguay will once again be with the services of Luis Suarez following his suspension, and he and Diego Forlan will look to make life difficult for the German defence.

The Uruguayan coach has already stated his intention to win this match, that might well mean more to Uruguay than it does to Germany. He will undoubtedly field his strongest available team, and the match will be a World Cup bow out by Diego Forlan who is unlikely to figure heavily in the next one. 

This is the best performance by a Uruguay team since they reached the same stage in 1970, where they were beaten 1-0 by West Germany, while revenge for an obscure and antiquated defeat is unlikely to play too heavily on their minds, Uruguay will be very keen to play well, and players like Suarez know that this is the last chance to impress in the shop window.

Conclusions

If Germany play as they did against England and Argentina then expect them to win fairly comfortably. History shows that these games tend to have fairly high scores as the players have far less pressure on them, and expect every German player to try to set up Miro Klose for the record.

An unlikely alternative is that the Germans clearly don't put in as much effort and allow Uruguay too much possession and space. If this happens, then expect Forlan to punish with his wicked long-range shooting.

Uruguay have a good team, and they have stated an intention, but I expect Germany to perk up to win this for what would still be a very good finish for the injury-ravaged and young team.  

These two teams can now rank themselves above the likes of England, France, Italy, Argentina, and Brazil, and this is at least some consolation.