Can any football fans answer a question please? (World Cup)

[RevengeOfTheDirtyLaundry]

My question is - why did no one seem particularly bothered about the World Cup 3rd place play-off last night, or the fact England won it (in some style, it seems)?

I haven't watched any of the World Cup and don't watch any other football, so I can't really see this from a fan's perspective. I get that there was huge disappointment about not reaching the Final, but surely 3rd place is a really good result.

3rd out of 48 teams - that's brilliant - people should be celebrating! Well done England, anyway.

I'm not exercised about it, just curious to understand the mindset really because it's not how I view competitions that I am personally invested in, or world-wide level sport that I watch, such as some events in the Olympics.

The key word there is ‘fans’.

You’re not a football fan, and you don’t have the same understanding of the tradition and history of the tournament, or the same emotional connection, that lifelong football fans do. You can’t force people to be excited about something like a third-place playoff that has no meaning or tradition behind it. A third-place playoff is a contrived non-event that none of the teams actually want to play in. In a knockout tournament, coming third doesn’t mean anything. It’s not the Olympics.

And yet, look at Norway, and the shear jubilation for getting where they did.

Ok, so they got further than they ever thought, but the celebrations seem to show quite what is wrong with the English football attitude. Celebrate what you did achieve! And, and you say, RevengeOfTheDirtyLaundry, that is third in the world.

I’ve watched almost every match and there have been some great games. Last night’s was a hugely entertaining match and allowed some previously benched players a game.
I’m pleased Mbappe got the golden boot. He was so dignified in the face of that vitriolic racism by the Paraguayan woman.
Tonight I cheer for Spain.
England Rugby team beat the Argentinians yesterday!!!!!!!

We definitely should be proud we've finished 3rd - best place ever since winning it in 1966.
People (and the media) just like to be negative about the England team.
It was a great game of football last night. I'm so glad we watched it.
Well done England!

Not overly into football, but I thought I'd watch some of it before going to bed. Got me hooked - those that have supported England and didn't watch, sadly missed out. Our team were well on it, even our goalie.

I know people were disappointed, but I can't understand why they wouldn't want to watch our team play the favourites.

Bluntly, you’re not a pro sports person. It’s not that the teams are passionate and the fans are saying Meh.’ A team that didn’t expect to advance thus far might take the third-place playoff seriously but there’s a long tradition of teams who did expect to have a shot at the final just treating it as a very token affair, making no secret of resenting it, bringing on players who hadn’t yet had any playing time at the tournament etc.

Oops! Mbappe hasn’t got the golden boot. We won’t know until after the final. I hope he does win it though.

Probably my favourite match of the tournament!

According to Google, there has been a 3rd place play off since 1934, so not sure why people are talking about it like a recent addition to the tournament? There are bronze medal play offs in Olympic tournaments such as football, hockey, table tennis, tennis, archery etc. No of course it is not the same as winning the final and lifting the trophy but it provides a top 4 rank that will be listed for the history books (and wikipedia). I don't remember who won many of the bronze medals in my sport (gymnastics) but for the individual, their federation and the results books their name will be there forever above the 4th placed athlete.

I’d argue that this whole well done for taking part mentality that is pervasive in society is part of the reason we don’t win things. It starts with non competitive sports days and makes developing that winning instinct so much more difficult. Yes it’s good to take part but we should be encouraging winning as far as possible. Or at least competing with the aim of winning.

Hopefully the message we’re starting to see is that participation isn’t everything. I was thankfully at school before the whole participation certificates became a thing and I’m so grateful. My niece came home with a certificate this week, she’s top of her class in both maths and English.

But in her own words “it doesn’t matter, everyone got one”. Even the kids who don’t learn, disrupt the class everyday and have way below average scores get a certificate just for showing up. That’s not right.

But there are play off matches in the Olympics

Third play off started in 1934 in the second staging of the World Cup, so pretty traditional in the history of the World Cup I would have thought

That's different from first, second and third, though - surely your DD would value her certificate if they were only given to the top 3 in her class? Well done to her for coming top.

Guessing if you have a DD in school you are a bit younger than me. There were no certificates for anything in my 1980s comprehensive school. There were some really good, dedicated teachers but many of them were just doing the bare minimum, and they were on 'work to rule' most of the time so there were no extra-curricular activities.

I was lucky to be academic enough to be in the top stream, which contained the proportion of pupils who wanted to work, and the standard was high but we weren't given prizes or certificates.

My sister wasn't academic and was in a lower stream and her classes were a joke, pupils wandering in and out of the lesson, openly smoking cigarettes at their desks etc.

ETA - sorry, just seen it's your niece not your DD!

For some children just turning up is a challenge.

For a number of teams in the World Cup progressing through the ranks was an amazing achievement for them, even though they didn’t win.

I for one will be happier for them than if Argentina win.

When you earn £400,000 a week, $29m dollars between 20 people must seem like chicken feed.

Of course Tuchel and Deschamps both said their teams didn’t want to be in the play off, because they wanted to be in the final

It may be a challenge but it’s not an achievement. Handing out these participation trophies for everything just devalues the actual achievements of others.

Yes they do. They get £2k ish per appearance but it all get donated.

Also the prize fund split changes country to country. Some countries give it all to the players but I believe the FA split it so 50% goes to players and all other staff. The rest will go into football development I think.

Most of our World Cup players would probably pay to be there!

It’s a competitive sport. And children are competitive by nature. The goal of a tournament is to WIN.

Because they’re not school boys, no one remembers who came 2nd, 3rd or 4th in the World Cup.

It’s basically a friendly

I agree with you
and in other sports a “bronze” / 3rd place would absolutely count …
so why doesn’t it count with football ⚽️????

Must be hard getting to the semi final. Losing and then knowing you have to play another game rather then just fly home.

However was a fun game! Think because no pressure the result didnt matter if they lost they werent going out if won they werent going through and thats why the play was so free in a way!

Pointless or not, it was a very entertaining game and both sides played brilliantly, at some points. It was a great end to their part in the 2026 World Cup. They should be proud how far they came.