Is there one?

No. Don't worry about it

Japebe43 wrote:Is there one?

Saturday 3pm. Belgium v Croatia.

The most pointless game in world football,who wants to play a meaningless pre-season friendly,when a few days earlier you have seen your ambitions thwarted.

tiger76 wrote:The most pointless game in world football,who wants to play a meaningless pre-season friendly,when a few days earlier you have seen your ambitions thwarted.

Budweiser, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Gianni Infantino etc

CoolClaret wrote:Budweiser, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Gianni Infantino etc

Oh! yeah the sponsors will milk it,but for the likes of KDB it is a pain in the ass,he and the other Premier League heavyweights and the rest of the squad will just want to get the first flight home,as will the team they face whoever that maybe,i vaguely remember England's 3rd/4th placed game against Italy i think in 1990,the stadium was half empty and it was played at a walking pace,it will be interesting which eleven the managers pick from their respective 23 for this game,plenty of changes i'll wager.

I'm going to play Nick Pope in that game, should we lose tonight, of course.

I think Southgate would do the professional thing and aim for 3rd, playing our strongest side. And no, this isn't like the Belgium game, as we don't have any more games to prepare for after Saturday/Sunday.

DustyBawls wrote:I think Southgate would do the professional thing and aim for 3rd, playing our strongest side. And no, this isn't like the Belgium game, as we don't have any more games to prepare for after Saturday/Sunday.

Why would I do that?

He should play the kids.

Are Burnley the last team to finish third in the FA Cup?

Yes, 3rd place match played five times
69/70 Man U bt Watford 2-0 @ Highbury 15,105 att
70/71 Stoke bt Everton 3-2 @ Selhurst Pk 5,031 att
71/72 Brum bt Stoke on pens @ St Andrews 25,841 att
72/73 Wolves bt Arsenal 3-1 @ Highbury 21,038 att
73/74 Clarets bt Leicester 1-0 @ Filbert St 6,548 att

The Birmingham v Stoke game was also the first FA cup game decided on penalties.

Pope to play Saturday!

Never understood this game. The teams involved could care less, absolutely pointless

I hope Gareth puts a strong team out. They deserve a crack at 3rd, even if it is a consolation.

Looked like a lot of walking wounded at the end of the match.
With less than 72hrs recovery I can only see plenty of changes.
Every player who travelled deserves some minutes and that’s not just to get Nick another cap but for squad mentality.

We should go for it. end of

If not southgate and dyche both have to go.

Not pointless Harry Kane needs to get golden boot, Pickford needs to get golden glove but we should still get beat and be proud about it

I'm very meh about this match,but from Gareth's POV it is a useful exercise in giving some of the squad some tournament experience,which as showed tonight England are severely lacking.

Confirmed as being on ITV,if anyone cares.

I think it would be absolutely amazing to see a Burnley player in action for England at the World Cup Finals.

That's the reason I'll be watching and hoping.

Points taken about previous games but World Cups in the past have not been as good as this one, so it may be that this 3rd place game will also be better.

Anyway as Guich says Pope may get on as well so worth watching just for that for me.

Claret&Green wrote:Yes, 3rd place match played five times
69/70 Man U bt Watford 2-0 @ Highbury 15,105 att
70/71 Stoke bt Everton 3-2 @ Selhurst Pk 5,031 att
71/72 Brum bt Stoke on pens @ St Andrews 25,841 att
72/73 Wolves bt Arsenal 3-1 @ Highbury 21,038 att
73/74 Clarets bt Leicester 1-0 @ Filbert St 6,548 att

The Birmingham v Stoke game was also the first FA cup game decided on penalties.

Clarets Chronicles gives the attendance at Leicester as 4,432.

The whole plan was for this game to be played on the Friday night before the cup final but it was played on the following Thursday night with both clubs shorn of some internationals. It put the final nail into the coffin of this daft idea.

For there to be any real point to the 3rd place decider there has to be some major incentive to win it.
I'm not sure how this could be achieved, but maybe they could be guaranteed some kind of seeding for the next competition that almost guaranteed them qualification for the finals.
Not sure what else could be offered to make it a serious contest tbh, though - as some have mentioned - there will be personal goals for some players.
For the rest though - avoiding injury might be the priority with the new season fast approaching.

nil_desperandum wrote:For there to be any real point to the 3rd place decider there has to be some major incentive to win it.
I'm not sure how this could be achieved, but maybe they could be guaranteed some kind of seeding for the next competition that almost guaranteed them qualification for the finals.
Not sure what else could be offered to make it a serious contest tbh, though - as some have mentioned - there will be personal goals for some players.
For the rest though - avoiding injury might be the priority with the new season fast approaching.

Given the large Premier League contingents in both squad's,plenty of managers will be crossing their fingers that all concerned come through unscathed. The advantage is that these players will effectively have had a pre-season and will be match sharp.

Pope and Butland are the only two players who havent yet played. Would be nice for them both to get 45 minutes apiece.

Walt wrote:Never understood this game. The teams involved could care less, absolutely pointless

Couldn't care less.

tiger76 wrote:Confirmed as being on ITV,if anyone cares.

So another one we'll lose then.

Worth $2 million
3rd. = $24 million
4th. = $22 million

Wrong way round:
3rd. $24 million
4th. $22 million

Gareth southgate should pick his strongest available 11 and aim to win.. English arrogance again from UK pundits dismissing the game.. Note that slaven bilic considers his 3rd place finish in 1998 his proudest achievement as a player.

Let's go out on a high, come on England. get the feel good factor back.

I've zero interest in this game. I've already seen England reserves vs Belgium reserves in a pointless match that neither side are bothered about winning. I don't need to see it again.

You get a medal for finshing 3rd so a little incentive to go for...

Sheedyclaret wrote:You get a medal for finshing 3rd so a little incentive to go for...

Unless they've changed it you also get a medal for 4th place. I read Paul Gascoigne's autobiography (not a good read btw) and he stated that they received a medal in Italia 90 for finishing 4th, and that they weren't too bothered because it looked the same as the 3rd place one anyway.

Do other countries celebrate reaching the semis as much as England ? The celebration of not winning and not reaching the final is a bit OTT IMO.

Blackrod wrote:Do other countries celebrate reaching the semis as much as England ? The celebration of not winning and not reaching the final is a bit OTT IMO.

Nope, they don't. We played well for the most part, exceeded expectations, and it was a great ride, but when presented with an unbelievably good opportunity to get to the final we blew it. The big hitters Holland, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Germany rarely have consecutive poor tournaments, so I'd expect most, if not all of them, to be forces again.

People are talking the England team up as heroes. They did well, really well, but if you want hero status you need to finish the job and win the f**king thing. Germany, Italy, and Brazil won't revere or even remember sides that got to the semis, and I know from my time in Italy, the team that won it in 82 are treated like gods, but the teams that came close, like in 94, aren't mentioned. That's how it should be for me. So it's a big well done, we did better than expected and it was enjoyable whilst it lasted, but ultimately we blew an unbelievable chance that probably won't come around again.

hoskinsgoalatswansea wrote:Nope, they don't. We played well for the most part, exceeded expectations, and it was a great ride, but when presented with an unbelievably good opportunity to get to the final we blew it. The big hitters Holland, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Germany rarely have consecutive poor tournaments, so I'd expect most, if not all of them, to be forces again.

People are talking the England team up as heroes. They did well, really well, but if you want hero status you need to finish the job and win the f**king thing. Germany, Italy, and Brazil won't revere or even remember sides that got to the semis, and I know from my time in Italy, the team that won it in 82 are treated like gods, but the teams that came close, like in 94, aren't mentioned. That's how it should be for me. So it's a big well done, we did better than expected and it was enjoyable whilst it lasted, but ultimately we blew an unbelievable chance that probably won't come around again.

If you step back and analyse England's tournament from a neutral perspective,it was actually very average,routine wins against Tunisia(just) and Panama,the Belgium game was a farce but showed that England's strength in depth is lacking,this was followed by a penalty shoot-out triumph over a Colombian side missing their best player and most likely goal threat,the quarter-final was better but the Swedish team was bang average,so to the semi-final and after a good first-half,England where dominated for the second-half and most of the extra-time period,if England reach another semi-final in the next couple of tournaments,it's not going to be Croatia but one of the traditional big-hitters they would be facing,Carpe Diem comes to mind as such a gift horse won't come around anytime soon.

tiger76 wrote:If you step back and analyse England's tournament from a neutral perspective,it was actually very average,routine wins against Tunisia(just) and Panama,the Belgium game was a farce but showed that England's strength in depth is lacking,this was followed by a penalty shoot-out triumph over a Colombian side missing their best player and most likely goal threat,the quarter-final was better but the Swedish team was bang average,so to the semi-final and after a good first-half,England where dominated for the second-half and most of the extra-time period,if England reach another semi-final in the next couple of tournaments,it's not going to be Croatia but one of the traditional big-hitters they would be facing,Carpe Diem comes to mind as such a gift horse won't come around anytime soon.

That’s just a ridiculously polarised view of England’s World Cup. Discounting the annihilation of Panama and the win against a strong Sweden side and not giving any credit for a fantastic first half which should have seen us Put Croatia out of reach.

Rileybobs wrote:That’s just a ridiculously polarised view of England’s World Cup. Discounting the annihilation of Panama and the win against a strong Sweden side and not giving any credit for a fantastic first half which should have seen us Put Croatia out of reach.

England overachieved from low expectations prior to the tournament,but "fine margins" could have easily crashed out in the last 16,the Sweden win was good,but the disappointment stems from the missed opportunity in the semi-final,Croatia are a strong side but were beatable,the consolation is this England squad are young enough to have another crack in 4 years,however Qatar will be tough for all the European teams given the unfamiliar climate,just seen the other post this calendar change may level the playing field somewhat.

England's best shot at a major honour is the Euro's in 2020,apart from Belgium and France,England can compete with the rest,and this experience and an extra 2 years of development under Gareth,should ensure that this squad is in peak condition,injuries permitting of course.

It's easy to spin things like this to suit one's own agenda.

We only played 6 games and one of those was vs Belgium when I'm not even convinced we wanted to win the game. Another was a 6-1 battering, a sound, convincing win over Sweden who knocked out some strong teams along the way, and a solid first half vs Croatia.

Sweden topped a group containing Germany and Mexico, and saw off Holland and Italy in qualifying so hardly fair to write them off.

Pickford starts

Shame

Didn't think Pope would get a game but stll