Third-placed play-offs: Pointless fun

Before the World Cup wraps up on Sunday with either Argentina or France being crowned champions, we have one more piece of business to finalise: who finishes third.

In essence, the third-placed play-off game is a pointless affair. Both teams aren’t too bothered about it after having been so close to the final and really, there’s nothing to gain from winning it. It’s almost a glorified friendly.

Paradoxically, that’s exactly why third-placed play-offs can often be entertaining encounters. With neither team needing to worry about elimination and definitely not eager for winning the runners-up medal to the runners-up medal, they can play with a rare kind of freedom.

Looking back through the results in history, since 1982 the third-placed play-off has seen more goals scored than the following, more cagey final on all but two occasions: 1998 (when Croatia’s 2-1 win over the Netherlands matches France’s 3-0 final win over Brazil) and 2018 (when England lost 2-0 to Belgium before France defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final).

Back in 1958 Brazil defeated hosts Sweden 5-2 to win the final, but even then the third-placed play-off that year saw France beat Germany 6-3!

Chances are you don’t remember the third-placed teams for some of the World Cups, so Playmaker compiled them here for you and surprise, surprise, the Germans are winning.

Germany also have the distinct ‘honour’ of being the only team to pick up bronze medals in a row – in 2006 (on home turf) and 2010.

Sweden and the USA have asterisks for their wins as they weren’t officially played in a ‘play-off’ game but they were still named as the World Cup’s third-placed team that year. Playmaker is always generous, and included them on the list.

What can we expect this Saturday?

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Certainly, we can expect a better match than when the two sides met in the group stages. It might feel like a lifetime ago now but Morocco and Croatia met in a stinker of a goalless draw in the first round of Group F games. We’d rather forget it ever happened and we’re sure many people who watched it already have done so. But then, who would have thought from there that both of these teams would make it this far after that?

Of course, Morocco have already made history by even making it to the semi-finals and they’ve won the hearts of the vast majority of neutrals along the way for their resilience in defence and attacking flair going forward.

However, they do have injury problems with Romain Saïss and Nayef Aguerd unlikely to feature. Perhaps QPR’s Ilias Chair and Burnley’s Anass Zaroury can hope to make their first Qatar 2022 appearances, especially after Morocco coach Walid Regragui said that he will "give opportunities to those who did not play".

Croatia meanwhile have done this all before. The nation finished third in France ‘98 in what was their first-ever tournament as an independent state (until then they had been a part of Yugoslavia).

Guus Hiddink’s Netherlands team featured the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Jaap Stam, and Edwin van der Sar. But the Dutch lost 2-1 thanks to goals from Robert Prosinečki and Davor Šuker at the Parc des Princes. 

So, while there’s not much at stake it’s likely that Croatia and Morocco will give us something to enjoy when they face off at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday. 

It can’t be worse than their last encounter. Who knows, it may even rain goals!