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3rd place play-off: Belgium v England


Marten

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The game no-one wants to play often turns out to be one of the most enjoyable games of the World Cup, probably because the pressure is off. Quite ironic though that this will be the 2nd game between these 2 sides this tournament that won't have much at stake.

I can see England winning this. Belgium expected to win this tournament and will be completely deflated, while England have exceeded expectations and will probably be the more likely side to be motivated to show themselves.

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If England lose it'll be dismissed as a pointless match (which it is really) but if they win it'll be a further sign of things to come from this exciting young squad etc etc.

It clashes with the big Fife derby this Saturday so I'll miss the match regardless.

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1 hour ago, Marten said:

I can see England winning this. Belgium expected to win this tournament and will be completely deflated, while England have exceeded expectations and will probably be the more likely side to be motivated to show themselves.

Disagree. The third-place game often ends up being between a rank outsider and a team who had serious designs on winning the whole thing. The former usually wins out, probably because the latter team are gutted and just want to get home to cry for a while. 

Belgium have never won anything, and were still outsiders despite the quality of their squad; third place will be their national team's greatest ever result. England are former winners and, as we're all well aware, considered the tournament as good as won after the group stage. They'll really struggle to pick themselves back up again.

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Not completely pointless. Both teams might still fancy the 3rd place medals and Lukaku might see a last chance shot at the Golden Boot, as might Kane. Could be a decent match and i'd expect both sides to put in more effort than last time but can only see Belgium coming out of this with a win. 

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2 hours ago, nsr said:

I would love to see Belgium tear them to shreds out of rage.

Lukaku hat trick for Golden Boot, please.

Followed by Brussels laughing at the UK's Brexit proposals and (probably rightfully) telling us to f*** right off.   The seethe would be immense...

Eta: On a serious note, does this game have any underlying political factor as far as the English are concerned (even though 'Brussels' doesn't actually = Belgium per se), with a double-defeat being a repeated boot in the baws from a smaller country?  It wouldn't be the first time that a game has gone on to affect national / political psyche.

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5 minutes ago, Henderson to deliver ..... said:

Belgium to body them please, and Martinez to tell them they can stick Brexit up their arse in the post match interview.

... and the media to suddenly have a change of heart over Southgate, suddenly realising their run was jammy and highlighting that they're never going to win a tournament with him at the helm.  TalkSport phone-ins would be a thing of beauty for weeks.

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Belgium win with a shot that hits Pickford in the face before rebounding in off Batshuyai's arse in the 90th minute.

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Belgium reserves 1 - England reserves 0.   It's almost like this has happened before.
I really hope they don't do that, could be a cracking game if both sides are up for it.
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