“It is not really an important game is it, honestly speaking?” Morocco have more reason than most to finish third but even they view the play-off as a waste of energy…
If the old adage is true, losers are forgotten. But at the World Cup, the greatest footballing contest on earth, FIFA continue to peddle a fixture where the majority of punters would be hard pushed to recall the winners.
Croatia and Morocco have to recover from their crushing disappointment this week in time to do battle for the quickly-forgotten honour of being the third-place finisher at the World Cup. England have lost a couple of these gatherings before, and I vaguely recall Holland taking a sort-of-bronze in 2014. The outcome of any other semi-final losers meeting was a mystery before looking them up just now.
I was perfectly content living in such ignorance. Why devote precious memory space to a match on the world stage that holds less significance than the Community Shield? Especially at this World Cup, a competition shoehorned into the middle of a club season because, FIFA.
Many players and managers care not one bit for it. “I think this match should never be played,” said Louis van Gaal about his final game in charge of Netherlands in 2014, his second of a three-part series of final games for King Louis. “The honest thing is it’s not a game any team wants to play in,” admitted Gareth Southgate when he was asked about England’s unwanted assignment at the last tournament. Managers can recognise that their players are shattered – physically and mentally – and just want to come home, which is hardly unreasonable. The same goes for the coaches.
Third and fourth place play off game is utter stupidity. Last thing any player wants. #gethome
— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) July 12, 2018
The reward is certainly not worth the risk of making weary players lace up one more time while their clubs wait anxiously. So, on Saturday, they probably won’t. Zlatko Dalic and Walid Regragui will almost certainly rotate their squads and the 2022 World Cup finals will offer up Croatia against Morocco for the second time in a few weeks, the only difference from that 0-0 draw being that this will be a rematch of the reserves.
Perhaps Morocco have more than most to play for in this second-last game in Qatar. The Atlas Lions have set a new benchmark for African nations and third does sound one better than fourth. But in years to come, their legacy would not be altered in any…
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