Germany seek solace, England eye prestige - FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP
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Depending on a team's original ambitions, the Play-Off for Third Place can offer a chance to ease pain or clinch a historic victory. Saturday's meeting between Germany and England is no exception, and both those motivations will apply, with Germany ending a 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup™ bid that began with trophy hopes – in contrast to opponents who touched down in Canada looking to progress as far as possible beyond the group stage.
Match of the day
Germany-England, Edmonton, 4 July, 14.00 (local time)
Germany no doubt expected to be watching this game on television ahead of Sunday's Final in Vancouver, while England perhaps imagined following it from the other side of the world, having already exited the competition. Instead, both teams will file out at Commonwealth Stadium with just one thought on their minds. Banishing all notions of what might have been, they will be determined to leave Canada with a bronze medal around their necks.
Die Frauen-Nationalmannschaft will begin the game as favourites thanks to their position atop the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking. They can also pride themselves on not having lost in seven games against England, most recently handing out a punishing 3-0 defeat at Wembley. However, only time will tell how the two teams are able to bounce back from their semi-final setbacks. For Germany, that meant a loss to a USA side who simply performed better on the day, whereas England were beaten by Japan in the cruellest of circumstances, conceding an added-time own goal after a fine performance.
Players to watch
It will be impossible not to pay close attention to Celia Sasic and Laura Bassett as soon as the first whistle is blown. The Germany forward leads the way in the goal charts with six strikes and did much to help her team reach the last four, while Bassett was one of England's most consistent and inspired performers during their historic run. Nevertheless, both would surely swap all their feats for just one chance to go back in time. Sasic, for example, is no doubt still haunted by her penalty miss against USA, having put the ball wide six minutes before the Stars and Stripes opened the scoring from the spot. As for Bassett, she would give anything for another bite at the cross she unfortunately lofted into her own net via the crossbar with England and Japan locked together at 1-1.
The stat
17 – Germany coach Silvia Neid will be overseeing her 17th Women's World Cup match when her team get to grips with England, making her the second most experienced tactician in the history of the competition behind Norway's Even Pellerud and his 25 games. Neid's 17th will also be her last as she will be stepping down after the Women's Olympic Football Tournament in Rio de Janeiro next year.
The words
"Every other nation has a style of play, and what we have is a way of winning. We need to give one more big performance against the Germans. It will need to be a class performance." Fara Williams, England midfielder