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Match for third place
Germany - Portugal
Time: 22:00 (Lithuanian time)
Location: Stuttgart's Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium (47,000 seats)
Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)
Semi-final game
Germany 0 - 2 Italy
In the first semi-final, the hosts of the tournament met the Italian team and failed to demonstrate the game that earned them much praise, and were forced to acknowledge the opponents' superiority. The best and perhaps the only good chances for the Germans to score during regular time were not taken by Bernd Schneider, and during extra time, luck smiled on Germany as the Italians twice shook the crossbar of Jens Lehmann's goal. Lukas Podolski missed his chances, and as the extra time neared its end, the Italians snatched victory with great strikes, shattering the Germans' dream of winning the championship at home, as Italy's players Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero made the difference.
Portugal 0 - 1 France
In the second semi-final, there was a balanced battle for some time, but after playing a little over half an hour, the match was decided by the individual skill of the French forward - Thierry Henry slipped the ball past Ricardo Carvalho and the Portuguese defender tripped his opponent. Zinedine Zidane, the French legend, stepped up to take the penalty, and although goalkeeper Ricardo guessed where the ball would go, the shot was strong and accurate. Portugal needed to equalize, but their attack faltered, and their only chance came after goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's mistake, which they failed to capitalize on, and their attempts to draw fouls in the penalty area did not catch the referee's attention, so France celebrated a minimal victory.
Previous encounters
Germany and Portugal have never faced each other in the World Cup, but they have played each other 14 times overall. The Germans have been more successful, winning six times, drawing five, and losing three times, but in the last match, Portugal emerged victorious. It was in the 2000 European Championship, when Sergio Conceicao's hat-trick led to a resounding 3-0 victory for the Portuguese. Oliver Kahn, Jens Nowotny, Michael Ballack (Germany) and Costinha, Pauleta, Nuno Gomes, and Quim (Portugal) were players in that match.
In 1985, Portugal became the first team to beat Germany in their own World Cup qualifying match. Like these matches, that game took place in Stuttgart, and Portugal won it 1-0.
Statistics and facts
Germany: This is the fourth time Germany is playing a match for the third place. In 1934, they defeated Austria 3-2, in 1958 they lost to France 3-6, and in 1970 they beat Uruguay 1-0. After losing the semi-final, Germany joined the list of teams like Chile (1962), Italy (1990), and South Korea (2002) who, as tournament hosts, experienced failure at this stage of the competition.
In 2006, Germany won seven, drew one, and lost two matches.Both of the team's losses came in matches against Italy. The semi-final defeat was only the third game in which Germany failed to score since Jürgen Klinsmann became the team's coach in July 2004.
Jens Lehmann, Philipp Lahm, and Per Mertesacker have not missed a single minute of the tournament so far. Miroslav Klose, who has scored five goals, is currently the tournament's top scorer. Klose has scored 10 goals in World Cup history and is one of 12 players who have reached a two-digit goal tally in tournament history. Gerd Muller (14), Jürgen Klinsmann (11), and Helmut Rahn (10) are the other Germans on that list. Half of Klose's goals in the 2006 World Cup were assisted by Michael Ballack.
Four times, the World Cup's top scorer has been a player from the host team - Brazilian Ademir in 1950, Chilean Leonel Sanchez in 1962 (who shared first place), Argentine Mario Kempes in 1978, and Italian Toto Schillaci in 1990. The fifth could be the German M. Klose.
Portugal: Portugal's best World Cup result came in their debut in 1966, when led by Eusebio, the Portuguese defeated the Soviet Union team 2-1 in the third place match and won bronze medals.
Before losing to France in the semi-finals, Portugal had not experienced defeat in 17 consecutive official matches. In this tournament, the Portuguese have only conceded two goals in six matches, but in the last two games, they failed to score.
Portugal's defender Ricardo Carvalho, who received two yellow cards in the knockout matches, is suspended for these games. Until now, R. Carvalho, Fernando Meira, and Ricardo have played every minute of Portugal's matches in the tournament.
As a player for "Stuttgart", F. Meira is accustomed to playing at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium. The Portuguese could meet their club teammates, goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand and midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger.
Miscellaneous:
Since the European Championship finals began featuring eight teams in 1980, no country that finished third in the World Cup has made it to the next European Championship final tournament.
Pre-match thoughts
Portugal:
Portugal's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari stated that World Cup matches for third place are a pain for the teams involved.
"Perhaps from a commercial perspective, this is a good thing, but for us, these matches mean more suffering than playing in a match where you would be happy. After losing to France, it is very difficult to motivate the players for this match. It is hard to stop the players and even themselves and not think about the missed opportunities. You think about what you lost, not what you can win. But this is part of the World Cup, and we have to stay optimistic," said L.F. Scolari.
Germany:
German coach Jürgen Klinsmann said before the match that his team has enough motivation to beat Portugal and win the third place.
Unlike his opponent L.F. Scolari, J. Klinsmann said that the match taking place in his hometown of Stuttgart on Saturday is valuable.
"They have something to offer, it is the World Cup match. We want to take third place and will try our best, trying to show our fans a good game, perform well so that they can have something to celebrate. We wanted to be in Berlin and play in the big final, but we have to settle for this little Stuttgart," said J. Klinsmann.
The coach also expressed his joy that Jens Lehmann agreed to give way to the goalkeeping position to Oliver Kahn: "We owe it to Oliver to let him play and there is no person in the world who could envy him for this privilege. He played a very important role, almost like every member of the coaching staff, and had a significant impact on the development and education of these young players."
After recovering from an injury, the German attacking leader Miroslav Klose stated that it is now more important for him to help the team win the match for third place than to win the top scorer title: "It would be great to be the top scorer, because then at least one title would remain in Germany, but everyone knows that I am a team player and I only think about the game."
FIFA
Meanwhile, FIFA defended the significance of the third-place match. "I believe that these matches are still very valuable. For the players, they determine whether they will finish in third or fourth place. Especially because Germany is playing, the interest will be high. It is a matter of prestige, it allows us to find out which places the teams took on the field," said FIFA press representative Markus Siegler.
Injuries and strategy
Germany: Team captain Michael Ballack will miss the match due to inflammation of his left knee. Per Mertesacker and Arne Friedrich will give up their places in defense to Robert Huth and Marcell Jansen, and goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has agreed to let Oliver Kahn play in the 86th match for the national team and make his final appearance in the World Cup.
Timo Borowski is expected to take M. Ballack's place, and Sebastian Kehl and Torsten Frings, whose disqualification has ended, are expected to play again. All other key players – Christoph Metzelder, Philipp Lahm, Bernd Schneider, Lukas Podolski, and Miroslav Klose – are likely to retain their places in the starting lineup.
Portugal: The team will be without defenders Miguel, who will not play due to a knee injury, and Ricardo Carvalho, who is disqualified for a second yellow card. They will be replaced by Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Costa, but it is unclear whether L.F. Scolari will make more changes to the team's lineup.
Predicted starting lineups:
Germany: (4-4-2) Kahn; Jansen, Metzelder, Huth, Lahm; Schneider, Kehl, Borowski, Frings; Podolski, Klose.
Portugal: (4-2-3-1) Ricardo; Ferreira, Meira, Costa, Valente; Costinha, Maniche; Figo, Deco, Ronaldo; Pauleta
