r/sports 3h ago

Soccer What are your thoughts tho.

[removed] — view removed post

8.0k Upvotes

215 comments sorted by

530

u/Ok-Hour-472 3h ago

Mbappe and Kane both could win the golden boot. Both team should just field 11 attackers

194

u/Escudo777 3h ago

All out attack. Just like my Fifa games on PlayStation.

21

u/Vox___Rationis 1h ago

4-1-5 - always the best strategy

12

u/CruelMetatron 1h ago

0-0-10 you mean.

3

u/LahmiaTheVampire 1h ago

With Goalie on full offence mode.

1

u/lefrench75 55m ago

Make Kane the keeper like he once was at Tottenham and then let him do whatever he wants

5

u/AdAggressive9224 1h ago

Goalies = only strikers.

6

u/GrayFal 1h ago

England should put Henderson in goal.

3

u/GideonGleeful95 1h ago

Only strikers? I thibk you have to pay for that website

2

u/EducationalEmu9505 1h ago

You mean the England fan approved Semi-Final strategy?

2

u/Iuslez 1h ago

That's what Argentina did to beat England, right? Didn't they have 5 attackers at the end of the game?

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32

u/GeordieJumpers87 3h ago

England should anyway. See how the opposite of all out defence pans out

21

u/Ok-Hour-472 3h ago

Only until they go up 1-0. Then swap in 5 defenders (a 6th in OT)

62

u/Sjovfis 3h ago

Just use the first 10 minutes to give Kane and Mbappe a hattrick each, and then start playing from there.

10

u/Beel2eboob 2h ago

Messi will just score two hattricks in the final you know what he's like.

3

u/CaptainMegaNads 1h ago

Evil must not win.

2

u/Beel2eboob 1h ago

What evil?

7

u/dynamisxiii 2h ago

Sounds like BLUE LOCK, full strikers lol

1

u/aenthovan 2h ago

Jinpachu Ego would be elated

1

u/Severe-Revenue1220 1h ago

That's a genuinely great idea!

I could now find myself celebrating a Mbappe goal against England... Weird!

548

u/Geezso 3h ago

Golden boot is up for grabs.

217

u/kraigka212 3h ago

And the FIFA Peace Prize too

102

u/FingerGungHo 2h ago

Trump grabs it by the Mbussy

10

u/Ok-Go-Chain3811 1h ago

dictator does not approve

7

u/satsuppi 1h ago

which one?

2

u/Geezso 1h ago

Is he the French forward?

1

u/Sir_Boldrat 48m ago

He's a little more than just a forward, his full position is His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal, Kylian Mbappe, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fish of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and France in Particular

51

u/LovecraftsDeath 3h ago

But both teams had already been booted.

58

u/Geezso 3h ago

Correct but FIFA have derived that goals scored in the 3rd place game will count toward the tournament totals fornthe golden ball/ shoe.

20

u/Re6er 3h ago

Why wouldn’t it count ?

47

u/ThisIsAitch 3h ago

It obviously should, but it's just a weird match to have at all. Why not have all the quarter final losers play their version of it to get a 5th-8th place and allow them to complete for the Golden Boot.

I get that it's for a 'Bronze Medal', but who really cares - this isn't the Olympics where people are genuinely aiming for a medal. World Cups and major tournaments are all about 'winner takes it all'.

33

u/AdFluffy9286 2h ago

Let's be honest. This is just another match for FIFA to make extra money. If Infantino follows Reddit, I'm sure he'll steal your quarterfinals idea.

11

u/Tennist4ts 2h ago

I mean, sure, it's more profit for them, but just go clarify: in this case it's not something they just came up with recently. They've been having the match for third place since the 50s

In fact, Just Fontaine took the record for most world cup goals when he scored 4 in the match for third place. Maybe Mbappe can also take the record in the same match

2

u/Setisthename 1h ago

*Since 1934; they only skipped it in 1950 because they used a round-robin system that year instead of knockouts.

1

u/Tennist4ts 27m ago

Ah thanks. Yeah, I knew about 1950 but wasn't sure about the 30s anymore

1

u/woeful_haichi 1h ago

He doesn't even need to follow Reddit; Infantino could just take the idea from the Homeless World Cup, which has a 'winners' and 'losers' bracket after the group stage to determine a full ranking of teams.

7

u/Yossarian1507 2h ago

Tell that to Croatia in 1998, or Turkey in 2002. They cared a lot, definitely seemed so when they celebrated. Bronze medals in 1974 and 1982 are remebered and cherished to this day in my country (Poland).

This is why I was bummed that neither Norway nor Switzerland made it past the quarters. We would have either huge underdog for the final or team that would care for a bronze medal game.

2

u/ThisIsAitch 2h ago

That's a fair point, I guess I'm only thinking from a anglo-centric perspective.

2

u/TheMeIv 1h ago

In this case though, it's 2 top teams that were going for and had a real shot at winning it all.

2

u/Phenetylamine 1h ago

Or Sweden in 1994 lol we still talk about that

1

u/woeful_haichi 1h ago

Great performance by Sweden that year. I remember Ravelli and Dahlin in particular being quite impressive.

1

u/Aggressive_Gear_7425 1h ago

Yeah but between England and France it's not. Congrats you are 3rd in the world.. we know

1

u/Yossarian1507 1h ago

Yeah, but this chain is about if it's a "weird game to have", as stated above. It's not weird. It's very important game, with plenty of historical evidence for that, and it doesn't change because this time both teams can't be bothered.

2

u/CroGamer002 2h ago

Pretty much vast majority of teams that regularly qualify to the world cup would care and had cared for winning 3rd place.

It's only a few top teams that are frankly sore losers that weren't good enough for the final that behave like this. Quite frankly it's insulting attitude and us unwarranted.

1

u/SirDiligent4077 58m ago

Don’t give ideas to Infantino

1

u/EduinBrutus 43m ago

Lots of sports do have small finals and "plate" competitions to rank teams or individual to every level.

2

u/TheMeIv 1h ago

I'm no expert but some of the arguments that I've seen or assumed people are thinking about probably go something like this: It's not a double elimination tournament. There's no other games for 5th, 7th etc... place. The game technically doesn't need to exist. They've already been eliminated. It's not fair that the other teams Spain and Argentina defeated on the way to the championship don't get another extra game to pad stats.

1

u/Geezso 1h ago

There has not always been a 'bronze final '. Some would argue that when teams go out in the semis, they have no more games. Or opportunity to add to their tally.

2

u/ConstructionOwn1514 3h ago

Third place match shouldnt count toward that

1

u/Geezso 1h ago

Out a the semis, one more chance.

1

u/vivi8392 2h ago

That's for best scorer ?

3

u/ThisIsAitch 2h ago

Yes, highest goal scorer.

8

u/vivi8392 2h ago

Thanks ! I read somewhere that France and England shoudl agree to let Kane and Mbappe score like 5 times each to prevent Messi from getting it. Ik it's a joke but that would be soooo fun

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87

u/argognat 3h ago

Make it interesting. Thunderdome rules. Two teams enter, one team leaves.

1

u/americangame 50m ago

Isn't that already the plan or are you talking about bringing back the American revolution?

468

u/Finchypoo 3h ago

They should just let each other score over and over again. Tie it up at 30 to 30, pad their stats like crazy and deny Messi any records and have a beer together afterwards. 

120

u/d3ftw 2h ago

Lol and instead of using their regular goalies, just use a random benched player so the goals against wouldn't hurt the goalies' stats

10

u/Ron_the_Rowdy 1h ago

have one of the water boy to play goalie

1

u/TheFeenyCall Oregon State 33m ago

Or just don't use a keeper at all

123

u/Flyboy2020 3h ago

That would actually be hilarious

53

u/roshan231 2h ago

Watching the FIFA chairman explode as a result would be even funnier

13

u/fuiripe 2h ago

Insert "No no No NO NONO NO NONO!" meme 

8

u/Grafzahn_10-9 1h ago

That is so not right!

1

u/liccman 1h ago

I thought we were having a fair match!

24

u/noced 2h ago

Why wait until afterwards, have some beers during

27

u/filthy-_-casual 2h ago

There's already hydration breaks afterall, it just makes so much sense

3

u/Santikarlo 2h ago

I would def would grab a beer during hydration break if I was playing for a 3rd place in a WC

3

u/Pristine-Hair4096 1h ago

That’s a dramatization but describes the problem of this game… no one gives a shit about the outcome. So either team can play for their guy like he’s Bam Adebayou of the heat getting 81 pts when his team was trying to help him top Kobe. Whereas Messi is playing to win the game which may mean 2 or 3 assists like last game.  Not really fair and more reason the game is stoopit.

3

u/JordinThreethree 1h ago

This is a non-issue. The third place game has been a thing for every edition of the World Cup except the very first one. Although teams and players obviously don't give it the same importance as the Final, they still play it with the same integrity and competitiveness of an International friendly game at minimum.

This theory that the players will see this game as a joke and will play Harlem Globetrotters style to pad their stats has no basis or precedent. These guys have too much pride

1

u/Clipper789 34m ago

You say that no one gives a shit, but I was camping at the site for the French Grand Prix in 1990 when Italy won the third place match against England. The Italians went nuts and were driving around the campsite all night long hanging out of the window, waving their flags and beeping their horns like they had won the damn final.

4

u/ToxicHazard- 1h ago

This would be absolutely amazing

3

u/Competitive_Speed964 1h ago

Infantino would call in a tactical strike of 4-5 red cards to take the wind out of their sails.

1

u/edgiepower 45m ago

Still wouldn't be enough to beat Australia's record

1

u/Alv0iD 27m ago

And before: "After being led 2-0 by Spain for 80minutes, Argentina come back in the overtime with 31goals for Messi"

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28

u/Constant-Estate3065 3h ago

They’re not having the Isle of Wight.

25

u/Bisquare_cycle_thing 2h ago

3rd place game playoff situation is interesting.

This edition it feels pointless, but it is because of nations involved setting themselves high goals (for a good reason).

Sentiment that we should get rid of it is wrong though. This game mattered for at least one nation involved in it since at least 1994, apart from maybe 2006.

This year is not usual level of importance for 3rd place game, but rather an exception.

24

u/Xehant 1h ago

I want you to realize it's France - England and I haven't seen any century war memes, it's pretty bad in term of motivation

6

u/LeaveMeBeWillYa 1h ago

Sentiment that we should get rid of it is wrong though. This game mattered for at least one nation involved in it since at least 1994, apart from maybe 2006.

Absolutely agreed.

Calls to get rid of it because the two teams in it had high expectations and got disappointed is frankly childish.

Imagine if Cabo Verde got that far? They be'd killing for this chance. At the last World Cup, folk were hoping that Morocco would get the third place spot after they lost their semi.

2

u/clutterless 1h ago

It mattered in 2006 to have a nice conclusion for the Sommermärchen.

1

u/broterp 1h ago

Realistically, it’s just for money purposes. 1 more game = more ads/sponsor time

3

u/PeopleCallMeSimon 1h ago

No, because its been there since forever.

People have been playing for third prize since before ads were invented.

For some fucking reason though, people today have this backwards ass idea that only first place matters.

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27

u/fluffysmaugg 2h ago

This game will actually determine who has the majority fishing rights in the English Channel.

3

u/TrashCarp 1h ago

Shout out to the "Co(l)d War" and journos having a blast naming trade disputes.

2

u/MethBearBestBear 1h ago

It is actually written in ancient law that whenever the two shall meet for Battle the winner gets to name the channel. This counts as a country battle so France could pull a Trump and rename it the Fence Waterway

1

u/Frere-Jacques 52m ago

Never understood this despite living in England forever - no one in England eats seafood?? The fishing rights are pointless

1

u/fluffysmaugg 33m ago

Pretty sure cod/haddock is seafood. There, I rest my chips.

1

u/Frere-Jacques 16m ago

If you look at the data of how much seafood french people eat compared to English, you'll see it's really a waste for the UK to keep the fishing rights. Now you could make an environmental case for protecting the waters from fishing, but I literally never heard this during the entire Brexit process

27

u/SnooHabits3457 2h ago

They should make the winner of 3rd auto qualify for next World Cup that’ll put some chili on their dicks

9

u/sinocarD44 2h ago

"Put some chili on their dicks" is something I will purposely work into a conversation as soon as possible.

2

u/ReserveFormal3910 1h ago

Whoever wins does get an extra 2M added to their total revenue for the WC and it affects the team seeding going into the next WC. I think there are some other incentives that should make this game a little competitive.

7

u/Away_Needleworker6 2h ago

Mbappe is 100% going for the golden boot.

Might be a fun game

19

u/send420nudes Porto 3h ago

Should be treated like the NBA all stars game, full offense no defense, final score 11-16 or something like that

4

u/KGBinUSA 3h ago

Just let it be U15 teams

6

u/Nahcep 2h ago

England have a shot at the second WC medal in their entire history, they shouldn't be picky about it. It's different for football giants like France, which has more medals of each colour than England does in total

2

u/Fast_Running_Nephew 1h ago

Nobody in that team or country considers third place a world cup medal, whether one physically exists or not.

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38

u/LocoRocoo 3h ago

No one remembers the 3rd-place playoff.

41

u/BaronZbimg 2h ago

Actually some great games over the years

13

u/Beel2eboob 2h ago

Belgium-England 2-0 I remember like it was yesterday.

18

u/Tennist4ts 2h ago

And 2002 Turkey won against South Korea after scoring the first goal after like 11 seconds.

2006 Germany defeat Portugal with 3 goals form Schweinsteiger form outside the box (ok, one was an own goal because it got deflected) to finish their home tournament on a good note.

2010 again Germany taking third place, defeating Uruguay, I think 4:2

2014 Netherlands 3:0 Brazil, meaning Brazil went 1:10 against Germanic countries in the last two matches.

2022 Croatia won against Morocco. Don't remember the score

For older tournaments I may have to look them up

11

u/donglover2020 2h ago

absolutely wrong. everyone remembers 3rd place belgium at the 2018 world cup

4

u/polikuji09 1h ago

I think it's still a bit deal for smaller teams that made it that far into the cup, to those teams saying they got third is special.

1

u/l339 2h ago

Netherlands Brazil I remember lol

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8

u/Alarming_Parsnip408 2h ago

People should be proud their national team gets 3d. You are 3d of the world... No matter the rank of team, and its a knockout tournament where anything can happen.

4

u/Aromatic_Tip8866 1h ago edited 58m ago

It will be a competitive game; a good chance to avenge themselves partiallly.
Deschamp’s last game, England’s chance to win World Cup silverware, golden boot race, an innate competitiveness ensure we have a banger in our hands.

2

u/emergencyexit 1h ago

Yea, terribly hyped games are often hidden gems. The final will probably be decided by pens, might as well tune in a couple hours after kick off

1

u/Aromatic_Tip8866 59m ago

yeah high stake games at times gets either too risky averse or one-sided.
This might unironically deliver. Will be tuning in either way

31

u/AbsolutelyNoHomo 3h ago

3rd/4th game is lame, both teams should just get 3rd.

4

u/MCJSun 1h ago

Nah. 3rd 4th game should make it so if you get 3rd and the person that beats you got 1st, you get to fight 2nd place for a salty steal

5

u/brianmmf 3h ago

Only thing wrong here is Pickford. He’d be the fastest minion by far but never standing in the centre of the goal.

9

u/Budget-Yak-5271 2h ago

This is as arrogant as it can get, Pickford was the only english player who carried England and didn’t let them lose like 4-1, because the whole english team seemed like they were asking exactly for that result.

3

u/brianmmf 1h ago

Ah it’s just a bit of a laugh. He’s a great shot stopper but he’s over aggressive sometimes. Some excellent goal line stops but tbf he was out of position on the 1st goal (off angle, strike was beautiful but it wasn’t in the corner by any means) and on the 2nd goal he was in a tough position where he maybe overcommitted on Messi’s cross coming in low enough that he could intercept it, and when it cleared his head he was in deep trouble. He also loves a bit of a moment with the ball at his feet.

3

u/PeopleCallMeSimon 1h ago

Last time England got a medal in the world cup was 1966.

One would think that getting a bronze medal would be something they want to fight for.

Imagine being the first English team in 60 years to get a prize.

10

u/HST87 3h ago

Bit of both. By the time the third place game rolls around there's enough of a regroup to make it competitive. At this level it's a big deal for any country's association to get the bronze I'd say, big difference between bronze and nothing.

Having said that, both sides have some of the biggest players in the world who just want a holiday at this point so you never really know, but it can definitely be a hugely competative game.

1

u/MadBullBen 1h ago

If it was a smaller nation I would agree with you and the reason why it shouldn't ever be removed, but I feel that the players and both fan groups have got to this stage so many times that the mentality is winning it all or losing, especially with how both teams got knocked out.

2

u/Qabalinho 2h ago

It's going to be The One Hundred Minutes War.

2

u/fuiripe 1h ago

4th place is the biggest bucket of cold water 🥀

You win your way... all the way to the semi finals.

World Cup trophy looks so close...

Then you get your first loss.

Dreams broken.

Then a second loss to rub the wound with salt 💀

1

u/Bootyytoob 32m ago

All the more reason why despite players saying they don’t care, they will fight like hell to avoid 4th

4

u/PqqMo 1h ago

You did never watch a 3rd place game, right?

2

u/Andybabez20 3h ago

Pretty much. It's a chance for Mbappe, Kane, Bellingham to stake a claim for the golden boot but that's it

1

u/imdibene 3h ago

This game should disappear in my opinion, it adds nothing the the tournament and nobody gives af about it just after you lose your opportunity to make it to the final

16

u/Militantxyz 2h ago

Us Croatians really cherish both of the 3rd place medals and we had really tough games for both.

23

u/zabaci 3h ago

not really for smaller countries their limit is third place, and for them it means a lot

5

u/CygnetC0mmittee 2h ago

In Sweden everyone still talks about when we got bronze 1994

1

u/Bootyytoob 28m ago

Should matter to England who aside from 1966 have never done better than 4th

3

u/Tackit286 2h ago

I take it this is just americans finding out for the first time that this game exists?

1

u/filthy-_-casual 1h ago

Which is weird consideing England hasn't won anything in decades, this would be their best finish since winning it back in the 60s I believe, yet somehow all the media has written it off as pointless friendly. It would make much more since for France since they've consistently done very well at WC compared to England

1

u/Bootyytoob 26m ago

It’s the Brit’s coping for their likely incoming THIRD fourth place loss to tie Uruguay’s record for fourth place

1

u/joeh4384 1h ago

It is still France vs England. I think it will be a pretty competitive match.

1

u/General-Internal-588 1h ago

My thought is that France and England will somehow be a more interesting match 

1

u/user_of_the_week 1h ago

In German we say they play for the "Golden Pineapple".

1

u/NoAppointment8679 1h ago

I hope England try and go out with some kind of pride, TT saying nobody cares about the match which I kind of get, at this point they probably just want to go home and lick their wounds. But if that was me I think I’d want to prove something to the world (and fucking Argentina) that we deserved to get where we did by being a good team.

Edit - kind of worried France is going to wipe the floor with us 😆

1

u/RicTannerman01 1h ago

This how the Poms play most of the time anyway.

1

u/Inside_Performance32 1h ago

I honestly think they should both let kane and M score lots of goals each .

1

u/Glass-Fan111 1h ago

Marvelous

1

u/Modifizierer 1h ago

🎯😂😂😂

1

u/Both-Huckleberry3482 1h ago

After Tuchel's comments, it seems this is the mood of the English team. They seem demoralized. There was a glimmer of hope of winning, but now they must feel they've let the English people down, and on top of that, they lost to Argentina. I don't know about France, though

1

u/Leglesslonglegs 45m ago

They and Tuchel have. Not because they lost but because after trying their best for 55 minutes they decided to stop playing the game, and instead of playing to win, they started playing to not lose (or even more stupidly considering the track record of the other side other side, they started effectively playing to lose). Ontop of that, we have seen England lose this way multiple times in the past few years alone, AND they didn't even do the "park the bus" well, at least vs italy they held on for 80 minutes giving away only one goal.

1

u/sinfulfng 1h ago

If they don’t want to play it, I’m sure there are several other teams that would hop on a flight to compete for third and fourth place

1

u/PeopleCallMeSimon 1h ago

My thought is that anyone who says playing for 3rd or 4th place doesnt matter is an asshole.

If someone says "2nd place is just first loser" is automatically branded an asshole by me. Its a toxic mentality that has to stop.

1

u/LessInThought 1h ago

Are you kidding? The French and The English always wanted a fight, this is just another excuse.

1

u/thaprizza 1h ago

It’s part of the tournament same as penalty shootouts. Both things I am not a fan of but it is what it is. Don’t like it? Then don’t watch it. Obviously I understand the players are not excited because both countries were possible finalists. If one of them would have been a surprise/dark horse they would take the opportunity to leave the World Cup the best way possible. France and England can field their reserves, no rules against that.

1

u/QuirkyWish3081 1h ago edited 16m ago

I won’t be watching. I will look at score later and go, oh. Anyway.

1

u/Listen2theyetti 57m ago

They should put in thier back up goalies and just let every player from each team score. End the game in like a 16-16 tie after subs

1

u/Banana_Leclerc9 56m ago

"Ehhhh"😂

1

u/tzimisce 53m ago

This will be the only football match played on Sunday, the other is a murderball match where Argentina will suffer no penalties. Maybe they'll kill someone this time with the punch to the back of the head.

1

u/Ardbeg66 39m ago

Make it a D-league match. Let young dudes who want to show off to the world play. They'll make it fun.

1

u/Professional_War7998 3h ago

lets be honest no one remembers 3rd place unless its a smaller country, might as well field the bench and reserves

1

u/theupbeats 2h ago

4th place is coming home 🎶🎶

1

u/robinta 2h ago

Yep... No interest in this game at all. Won't watch

1

u/loco_mixer 2h ago

Entitled and spoiled

1

u/ThePurpleKing159 2h ago

Dont discredit Bronze. 3rd is better than 4th

0

u/Youareaproperclown 3h ago

I guess we will never know as why would anyone tune in to watch that shite on a Saturday night.

0

u/daventria 2h ago

The 3rd place-game in football makes no sense at all. Maybe during the olympics (although i think football should never be considered as an olympic sport). Nobody gives a **** about the 3rd place. Like tennis; a 3rd place game during wimbledon? Horror.

0

u/NoDark2993 3h ago

Made me laugh way more than it should have 😅🤣