Uruguay and Germany left playing for pride
Reuters - Friday 09 July 2010, 02:00
PORT ELIZABETH - Germany and Uruguay will
hope to salvage some pride in their third-place play-off match on
Saturday after devastating semi-final defeats earlier this week.
The two teams were largely written-off in the run-up to the
finals but can hold their heads high after some stunning
performances against top-ranked sides before their respective
exits to Spain and Netherlands in the last four.
Germany's high-scoring young side are determined to cap
their impressive World Cup with one last win in Port Elizabeth
where coach Joachim Low promised his bitterly disappointed
players will be in the right frame of mind and ready to win.
"The disappointment is there but now we need to build up the
team a bit," he said after the Germans were dumped out 1-0 by a
far superior Spanish outfit in Durban on Wednesday.
"I'm certain we will go into the match with the necessary
focus. No one needs to hang their heads low and we want to have
a good final match," said Low, whose team thrashed widely
fancied England and Argentina in the knockout stages.
History will not favour twice World Cup winners Uruguay in
this match after fourth place finishes the last two times they
reached the semi-finals, losing out in the playoff to Austria in
1954 and the Germans in 1970.
Germany have finished third on three occasions and lost the
play-off only once in 1958, to France.
PLAYERS AVAILABLE
Two players central to the German and Uruguayan marches
through the knockout stages will be available again after
suspensions that weighed heavily on both teams in the semis.
Attacking midfielder Thomas Muller was sorely missed by the
Germans on Wednesday and will likely start, as will Uruguay
striker Luis Suarez, whose handball on the goal line late in the
match against Ghana helped put his team in the last four.
Uruguay, who lost 3-2 to the Dutch after a last-gasp fight
back, could be without in-form marksman Diego Forlan on Saturday
because of a thigh problem sustained in the semi-final.
Three players who could figure - Forlan, Muller and
Miroslav Klose - are joint second in the scoring charts after
netting four times each.
They all have a chance to win the golden boot if they can
score twice and Spain's David Villa and Dutchman Wesley Sneijder - joint top scorers with five - draw blanks in Sunday's final.
Forlan said he was eager to play in the third-place match
and wanted himself and Uruguay could go out on a high.
"I hope to be fit for Saturday," he said. "I really want to
play for third place. Even that would be great for everyone."
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