{"id":1269,"date":"2026-07-19T13:18:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T13:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2026-07-19T14:26:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:26:47","slug":"gom-world-cup-diary-38-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/gom-world-cup-diary-38-2\/","title":{"rendered":"GOM World Cup Diary #39 Third Place? Who Cares?"},"content":{"rendered":"

GOM World Cup Diary #39 Third Place? Who Cares?<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Whatever Happened To Being Pointless?<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Well…<\/p>\n

That’s told me.<\/p>\n

After spending yesterday wondering why on earth the World Cup still bothers with a Third Place Play-off, England and France decided to produce the most entertaining match of the entire tournament.<\/p>\n

I hate it when football does that.<\/p>\n

There I was, happily explaining why both teams would rather have been on the first flight home, only for them to serve up a ten-goal thriller that had more twists than a mountain road.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Football Gods read yesterday’s diary.<\/p>\n

If they did, they clearly decided I needed reminding who was really in charge.<\/p>\n

England couldn’t buy a goal in the semi-final.<\/p>\n

Last night they couldn’t stop scoring.<\/p>\n

Four-nil at half-time.<\/p>\n

I had to check I hadn’t accidentally switched over to one of those old England highlights DVDs from 1966.<\/p>\n

Where had this team been hiding?<\/p>\n

The same players who looked so cautious against Argentina suddenly played with freedom, confidence and a willingness to attack every time they crossed the halfway line.<\/p>\n

It was almost as though somebody had quietly reminded them that football is actually supposed to be fun.<\/p>\n

Of course, being England supporters, we should have known it wouldn’t stay comfortable for long.<\/p>\n

France came roaring back.<\/p>\n

Four-one.<\/p>\n

Four-two.<\/p>\n

Four-three.<\/p>\n

You could almost hear blood pressures rising in living rooms across the country.<\/p>\n

Then England remembered where the opposition’s goal was again.<\/p>\n

Six-four.<\/p>\n

Game over.<\/p>\n

Or at least as “game over” as a ten-goal World Cup match ever feels.<\/p>\n

It made me wonder if that’s exactly why football continues to captivate us.<\/p>\n

The moment we become absolutely convinced we understand it, it politely taps us on the shoulder and says…<\/p>\n

“You were saying?”<\/p>\n

Perhaps that’s why predictions are such dangerous things.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I questioned whether the Third Place Play-off served any real purpose.<\/p>\n

Today I’m wondering if I should have kept my mouth shut.<\/p>\n

Don’t misunderstand me.<\/p>\n

I still don’t think many youngsters grow up dreaming of winning a bronze medal at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Every player wanted to be in Sunday’s Final.<\/p>\n

But if you’re going to play one last game before heading home, you might as well give the supporters something to remember.<\/p>\n

England and France certainly managed that.<\/p>\n

Maybe the match wasn’t really about deciding who finished third.<\/p>\n

Maybe it was about allowing two disappointed teams to remember why they fell in love with football in the first place.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, when there’s nothing left to lose, you finally remember how to play.<\/p>\n

That’s not a bad lesson for life either.<\/p>\n

So yes…<\/p>\n

England go home with bronze medals around their necks.<\/p>\n

More importantly, they leave with smiles on their faces after producing one last performance full of courage, freedom and entertainment.<\/p>\n

As for me…<\/p>\n

I still think the Third Place Play-off is a slightly odd idea.<\/p>\n

I might just grumble a little more quietly about it next time.<\/p>\n

Anyway, what do I know?<\/p>\n

I’m just a grumpy old man.<\/p>\n

Stick your thoughts below. I\u2019ll read them when I\u2019ve finished being annoyed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GOM World Cup Diary #39 Third Place? Who Cares? Whatever Happened To Being Pointless? Well… That’s told me. After spending yesterday wondering why on earth the World Cup still bothers with a Third Place Play-off, England and France decided to produce the most entertaining match of the entire tournament. I hate it when football does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,13,53,82,111],"tags":[222,125,221,209,208,177,176,79,220,102,106],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-grumpy-old-man","category-humour","category-soccer","category-world-cup-2026","tag-bronze-medal","tag-england","tag-england-vs-france","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-football-commentary","tag-football-humour","tag-france","tag-grumpy-old-man","tag-third-place-playoff","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-world-cup-diary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1273,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions\/1273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}