Playoff play between Belgium and England in 2018

Belgium vs England

Third Place Qualifiers, St Petersburg Stadium, St. Petersburg

"The last thing players will want to do as the dust settles on their semifinal outings is to contemplate a meaningless match to compete for a largely useless prize." – Louis van Gaal, who led the United States Low in third place in 2014.

This is a game that does not ask the question of "who?" or when?" More often than not, the question surrounding the match is "why?"

Play for the third.

Belgium and England, fresh historically discouraging, must start again for the glory of the bronze at the 2018 World Cup. The match concerns very small bragging rights and, for FIFA, ticketing revenues to the detriment of teams who just want to go home.

But the truth is that people are watching it. The popularity of television is generally high – the World Cup addicts, perhaps, are starting to get rid of their favorite drug with only two games to play – and generally well-contested.

Since the 1934 tournament, the match has been used to establish world rankings, give young players their first glimpse of the World Cup and decide on the coveted goal crown known as the Golden Boot.

This happened just the second time the game was played. In 1938, Brazil faced Sweden and Leonidas, the star of Canarinho, scored twice to secure the title of top scorer.

[John Strong was once an American ‘soccer nerd by myself.’ Now he’s calling the World Cup final.]

Twenty years later, the French Just Fontaine extended his lead. He scored four goals in the match against West Germany, finishing the tournament with 13, a record that has been seriously contested only once (by Gerd Mueller, who in 1970 needed a hat trick for "

This year, the two tournament leaders – the Englishman Harry Kane and the Belgian Romelu Lukaku – could be featured

. often use third place to give players who have not yet seen the time on the field the opportunity to live the World Cup.

The other thing about this match is that he often has a lot of goals to raise the pressure mountains of players for the first time in weeks

The verdict is whether the game of third place has a salutary effect on the "return to the mount For the discouraged teams, won the match for third place in 1970 and continued to win it every four years later. But the Dutch did not have the same lift in 2014.

"This match should never be played," said Dutch manager Louis van Gaal. "I say it for 10 years."

It was played, and his team beat the Brazilians, still shocked by the 7-1 semi-final loss to Germany, by a score of 3-0. The Netherlands failed to qualify for this World Cup. Brazil? Flambée dans les quartiers

When: Saturday, 10 am

How to watch TV: Fox

How to watch online: Fox Sports, the Fox

How Watch in Spanish: Telemundo

How to Watch in Canada: The Bell Media TSN and CTV Networks, the TSN GO App and TSN.ca/live.

[FIFA could expand World Cup to 48 teams in 2022, ahead of schedule]

Team Profiles

Belgium

• Previous results: In group, defeated in Panama, 3-0; defeated Tunisia, 5-2; defeated England, 1-0. Japan defeated 3-2 in the round of 16. Brazil defeated 2-1 in the quarter-finals. Lost in France, 1-0, semi-final
• Best World Cup result: fourth place, 1986.
• Notable: Belgium remains the best team in the World Cup with 14 goals in six games.
• FIFA World Rankings: 3. ELO World Rankings: 3.

England

• Previous Results: In group, he beat Tunisia 2-1; defeated Panama 6-1; lost against Belgium 1-0. Defeated Colombia in the round of 16 after a 1-1 draw. Sweden defeated 2-0 in the quarter-finals. Lost in Croatia, 2-1, semifinal
• Best World Cup Result: Champion, 1966.
• Notable: England had the second youngest World Cup team this year.
• FIFA World Rankings: 12. ELO World Rankings: 7.

Players to Watch

The starting lineups are likely to change – perhaps significantly – in the semifinals of each team . This makes any forecast trouble. But if they play, all eyes will be turned to England Harry Kane and the Belgian Romelu Lukaku probably the best reasons to watch this consolation game. Kane leads the Golden Boot rankings with six goals, while Lukaku has four goals. Lukaku scored all of his open game. But he has not managed to score since the second game of the tournament, a sequence that contributed to the shutout in the semifinal of Belgium against the French. Half of Kane's goals came from the penalty spot. His last goal came in the match against Colombia in the round of 16

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