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Portal Eurofootball.com together with the betting company Unibet presents you the blog of the football commentator and former Lithuanian national team defender Žydrūnas Grudzinskas dedicated to the World Cup.
The match for the third place is a headache for all World Cup tournaments. Teams that have lost in the semifinals come out to the field with a completely different psychological mood than if it were the final. Often teams turn to FIFA to eliminate the match for third place, as UEFA did, but FIFA is not UEFA, so J. Blatter is categorically against the elimination of the match for third place, saying that "every team must know its place."
Usually the matches for the bronze medal are interesting when two teams reach the semifinals, for which it is already a huge achievement. Let's remember the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, where South Korea fought for the bronze against the high-flying Turkish national team. The match was dramatic, we saw many goals, and after the match, all players from both teams ran around the stadium together, demonstrating solidarity between different cultures. And what did we see in the last championship? Quite dull matches between Portugal and Germany, aiming only for the gold.
Today the situation is somewhat different. For Germany, one could say that the championship ended after losing to Spain. Even the captain Ph. Lahm stated that the team has no desire to play in the consolation final. Uruguay is a different story. Since 1970, Uruguayan footballers have not played in the semifinals. For them, representatives of a small nation, these are important matches. Every victory, every title for Uruguayans is hard-won. Rarely can they boast that Brazil, Argentina, or Paraguay are below them on the tournament table, so the Uruguayan footballers should take the field more mobilized, more focused, and more aggressive.
Although Germany is often the winner in various major tournaments, this team, unlike other German national teams, is very young, ambitious, and eager to prove that those victories against England and Argentina were not accidental, that the newly baked, young German stars after the loss to Spain, can recover and win. I believe the Germans will swallow the bitter pill of defeat and demonstrate beautiful, attacking, and productive football, like they did in the round of 16 and quarterfinals. I hope for an interesting, uncompromising, and intense match. Uruguay showed in the semifinals that even with a few minutes left and trailing by two goals, the match is not lost and kept the Netherlands team in suspense until the end of the match. The Germans, I think, will not choose cautious defensive football as in the match against Spain, so the match must be much more dynamic. However, the favorite in this duel is Germany.
Although the favorite is Germany, they will not be able to prove their advantage in the first half. After the first half Uruguay - Germany (X, k - 2.30). But Germany should be proud of the bronze medals. Bronze would be like compensation for their unexpectedly solid football and, at the same time, a stimulus for future victories for young footballers. Uruguay - Germany (2, k - 1.80).
