Germany and Uruguay Play for Third Place

Venue: Port Elizabeth

Date: Saturday, 10 July 2010

Kick-off: 19:30 BST

TEAM NEWS

Miroslay Klose of Germany is currently suffering from a bad back which means that he may not be able to beat Ronaldo’s record of 15 World Cup goals. Thomas Mueller will be back from suspension so is likely to take the place of Piotr Trochowski. The German coach Joachim Loew is ill with a virus which has made him take to his bed, Philipp Lahm and Lukas Podolski are suffering from the same virus but they are still expected to be fit enough to play.

Uruguay’s striker Luis Suarez is back from his suspension for handball, however, they might be playing without Diego Forlan as he is suffering froma thigh injury received in the match against the Netherlands. Diego Lugano is no expected to play because of a knee problem and Jorge Fucile is back from his ban. 

MATCH PREVIEW

This match has happened before, in 1970 the three time winners Germany played against two time winners Uruguay for the third place, last time the Germans won. Teams often struggle to find motivation for this match as they are normally still reeling from their semi finals. It falls to the coaches to persuade their players that this is a game worth winning. 

It is expected that the German team will come back more mature in 2014 but this match may give Miroslay Klose his final international appearance. He is hoping that a bad back will not stop him trying to win a second Golden Boot award. He is also just two goals away from overtaking Brazil’s Ronaldo as the person to have scored the most goals in World Cup history.  Don’t be surprised to see him shooting as much as humanly possible and trying to take any penalties that may be award to the team. 

Uruguay has surpassed all expectations by reaching the last four in the World Cup. They hope that their tournament will not only be remembered for Luis Suarez’s hand ball in the last minute of their match against Ghana. Their striker Diego Forlan has been one of the best players of the tournament and is in contention for the Golden Boot, however, first he must get rid of a thigh injury he received when playing the Netherlands.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

This is the tenth time that these two teams have played each other, in total Germany won six, drawn two and lost one. They have played three times in the World Cup, one of these occasions was a third place play of match in 1970 which Germany won 1 – 0. They played in the 1966 quarterfinals which Germany won 4 – 0 and they drew one all in 1986.  They last played in 1993 which Germany won 5 – 0.

Germany

This is the fifth time that Germany have appeared in a third place play-off match. They won three and lost one. Their goalkeepers Hans-Joerg Butt and Tim Wiese as well as defenders Serdar Tasci and Dennis Aogo are the only German players who have not yet played at this World Cup. 

Uruguay

Uruguay has been in a third place play off twice, they lost to Germany in 1970 and Austria in 1954. Uruguay has not managed to beat a European team at the World Cup since 1970.  When they lost to the Netherlands it was their first defeat of the year, they’ve won five games, drawn two and now lost one.