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.

Do you think that come the Olympics there should be no bronze medals awarded then? Why have silver and bronze at all if it's just the winner who matters? I would imagine that the competitors would disagree with you.

I’m glad it went as well as it did, but it’s a painful game to watch either way – if you do badly, it’s another kick, if you do well then you can feel resentful that the performance wasn’t there before hand.

It’s not the olympics. I do think anyone cares for third place – they are there to win. I’m sure the players just want to go home, rest and see their families after those gruelling weeks and the let down experienced. Not hang around for 5 more days to play another match.

But it’s not the Olympics. It’s a completely different mentality.

I'll have a share if they don't want it 😅I'd be chuffed to bits with 1% of that amount, let alone 1.45 million.

It's exactly like the Olympics.

Hence the England team received bronze medals for coming third.

But there are play offs in the Olympics, why is it different?

England demonstrably is one of the top teams in the world, and at the beginning of the competition, France were the bookies' favourite to win the World Cup. So in World Cup terms, we beat the favourites and are third in the world.

How is that not an achievement? Honestly, it's like telling a team of sportsmen that their Olympic Bronze medal is worthless.

You'r behind me in that queue! I have to face my grandson later today and make a confession! I thought it was a 8pm kick off so looked for the score at 10pm only to see they were 4-0 up but just starting the second half! So relieved they didn't lose, though it was a close thing. I'm always told not to check the scores of any team we support, being the kiss of death.

A lot of this is coming across as footballers being bad losers.

They arent school boys. They afe role models, like it or not, and their attitude had an effect on the spirt in general.

Can you remember who came third in the last World Cup and the one before that without using Google? Athletes don’t want to celebrate coming third they want to win.

Can’t we just get some degree of enjoyment from England having beaten the best team France?

And more importantly, the fact that it was a hugely entertaining match.

Plus they are ending the World Cup on a positive note.

So if you have a life limiting illness and miss large amounts of school due to hospital stays and recovery but still go into school and make progress. The child who has SEND needs so much so that going into school is hell due to sensory overload (see numerous threads about posters hating listening to their partner chewing, well times that by at least 100 for that child). Children who come from dysfunctional, abusive families who don’t support them at all at home, other families who don’t have the resources or ability to support their children. Have none of these children achieved something?

Maybe some children might not come top of the class but they may have achieved much more understanding of inclusion than those at the top.

I assume you think people who take part in the Paralympics achieve something, even if their times pale compared to Olympic times. Well for many children going into mainstream school is their Paralympics but they are set directly against their Olympic competitors

Going back to football do you not think Cape Verde getting to knock out stage and only just being beaten by Argentina was an achievement

Well you’ve had your answer here! You go to win, not to get a lesser place.

This isn't correct at all.

England won an extra $2 million. So France won $27 million for 4th place and England $29 million for 3rd place.

To those comparing it to the Olympics, it's like comparing apples and oranges. Football is a totally different sport and the WC is a different competition. It's a "winner takes it all" competition and not cumulative.

Revenue generation aside there are positives in taking part. It counts towards Fifa world rankings, allowed players who wouldn't have otherwise got to play to make an appearance, allows players to add towards golden boot tallies etc. It does all count, despite what the two managers said in their press conferences.

For two teams who said they didn't want to play, it was sure a cracker of a game!

To those saying 3rd place is never remembered, this is true for the most part but I think England beating France 6-4 in a WC game is always going to be remembered. It's the highest scoring WC game in the past 40 years!!!

Can’t we just get some degree of enjoyment from England having beaten the best team France?
And more importantly, the fact that it was a hugely entertaining match.
Plus they are ending the World Cup on a positive note.

Agreed.

And it will have been good for young fans in particular to see a game played in the proper spirit without a lot of foul play.

One of the worst aspects of this game is that Lionel Messi is likely to be deprived of winning the Golden boot (a genuinely prestigious trophy) because Mbappe scored twice in a Mickey mouse friendly.
It makes a mockery of the competition.

But they are not the best team. The best team in terms of ranking is Argentina and they have rightly made it to the final and proven why they are ranked number one in the world. And how is playing for third place ending on a positive note? No one wanted to play that game it was just a money spinner and nothing else.

it was just a money spinner and nothing else.

So the fact that a great many people enjoyed watching it counts for nothing in your view?

And it's not good to teach young people that only being first matters and there's no achievement in coming second or third or fourth, or just doing your best.

The teams wouldn't want that. It used to be the case that the champions got automatic qualification for the next World Cup and it was stopped because those teams who won the tournament complained they were being hurt by not having any competitive matches over the next few years. It meant they would arrive at the next World Cup undercooked. France asked to be included in qualifying when they were hosting the Euros in 2016 for the same reason: they wanted competitive matches rather than 2 years of friendlies and England are doing the same for 2028.

And if Argentina had been the ones in the play off, do you think Messi would have graciously declined to score in that game, in order that another player could have a better crack at the golden boot?

I think by the end of the match all of the players had fully engaged in it. I wonder if it will be taken more seriously next time. It was certainly, in my opinion, the best match of the tournament and played the most fairly.

Whether teams where players continually foul the other side (and get away with it) can be called the best team, probably not in my opinion

Because football isn’t the Olympics, only first place counts. It’s a knockout tournament. Once we lost Argentina, we were mentally “out”. The players usually get a long break over the summer, but they’ve been playing solidly for the past 11 months. They’ll be knackered and doubtless just want to jet off on holiday and relax for a week or two until it all starts again.

The team did really well. The game last night was phenomenal but let’s not convince ourselves that it means we’re better than France.

To be fair that’s the only aspect worth respect. Messi doesn’t deserve the golden boot.

I also thought the sight of a number of England and France players together in a huddle at the end of the match, in prayer, was truly heartwarming. I can’t imagine the Argentinians sharing a prayer with their opponents.