England, Belgium meet again in fixture often labelled pointless
ST PETERSBURG: Belgium and England have already met during the World Cup in a match both teams seemed reluctant to win and tomorrow they will face each other again in a game they both seem reluctant to play.
The two sides must pick themselves up and dust themselves down after suffering the crushing disappointment of semifinal defeats to play for the modest prize of third place in a fixture often criticised as pointless.
‘‘It’s not a game any team
wants to play,’’ England manager Gareth Southgate said after his team lost 21 to Croatia after extra time in Thursday’s second semifinal.
‘‘Of course, we want to win. We’ll be ready to go again because the team take great pride in their performances. It’s a bit too early after that defeat to think about it.’’
His Belgian counterpart, Roberto Martinez, was simi larly unenthused about the game after his side was beaten 10 by France on Wednesday.
‘‘It’s a difficult emotion to manage. You’re disappointed because you lose the semifinal, and it’s very difficult to see the opportunity of playing another game as a positive,’’ he said.
Even so, he said he would try to lift his team.
‘‘We need to regroup and recover and see the opportunity. To try to finish third in the World Cup does not happen often. The only time it hap pened in Belgian football was in 1986, when we finished fourth.’’
The two teams previously met in their final group stage game when both had already guaranteed a place in the last 16. The twist was that the side which finished second would land in the easier side of the draw.
Martinez switched nine players and Southgate brought in eight, a decision he described as a ‘‘no brainer’’ in the circumstances.
Belgium won 10 and was rewarded with games against Japan, Brazil and France while England played Colombia, Sweden and Croatia but the end result for both sides was the same — semifinal elimination.
‘‘Sometimes I think you have to look at the bigger picture and make decisions that might be criticised,’’ Southgate said at the time.
The thirdplace match was dropped from the European championship by Uefa following the 1980 tournament but has remained part of the World Cup calendar despite complaints. Fifa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Both teams are in their second thirdplace match, Belgium having lost to France in 1986 and England to Italy four years later.
It tends to be a highscoring fixture and each of the last four winners has scored three goals — Turkey in 2002, Germany in 2006 and 2010 and Netherlands in 2014. — Reuters