My thoughts on why today’s third place play-off matters as England face Belgium…
Let’s end on a high
The third place play-off is always the game that nobody really wants to play in, but for England it should be seen as an opportunity to end what has been a hugely successful tournament on the kind of high that it deserves.
The opposition is familiar in Belgium, and I can only hope that we’re not treated to a rematch of the reserves following their 1-0 victory over us in a final group game that featured two much-changed sides. I’m sure whether it will be like this, but I would like to see both sides really go for it to earn third place, to finish tournaments that should be seen as successes for both nations.
For Belgium, they have broken through the quarter-final barrier that has ended the golden generation’s previous two tournaments. It was their first appearance in a World Cup semi-final since 1986, and they can make this their best ever performance with a win today having lost this play-off game in Mexico. Surely your best World Cup in history is something to fight for?
Despite that though, there will be disappointment. Belgium had the talent to go all the way, and in Roberto Martinez they had a coach who could take them there, but they came up against a France side who were marginally stronger and just a bit smarter too. What will make it hurt right now is knowing, similarly to England, that they were so close, but the difference may be that while England have a young squad who can go again in 2022, Belgium’s will have adapted as some of their star talents clock up the years.
There are so many positives to take out of this World Cup for England, and that is why I badly want us to win this match. That side deserves to end on a high and achieve third place, to make this our second-best ever World Cup, rather than finish with two straight defeats and have as many losses to our name as wins in the history books.
The pressure is off because nobody really cares too much if we lose. There will be no criticising the overpaid prima donnas, no lamenting why they can only perform for their club sides, no calls for the manager to be sacked for his negative tactics. The mindset of English football fans has changed and that typical pressure has been lifted for now.
But what if we win? We English don’t usually need much excuse to drink to our joy, so who can say that nobody will care too much if we beat Belgium? I hope that we would celebrate it pretty well, recover some of the sadness that inevitably came with Wednesday’s defeat, and those heroic players can come back with an even greater reputation.
Box-to-box journalist 