Meaningless?

[Ken4155]

There is a train of thought that holds the opinion a 3rd/4th place play off in football tournaments is totally meaningless. Those who hold that view may well be correct but if you are lucky enough to finish 3rd (rather than 4th) you do at least come home with something to show for your efforts. /surely that's better than coming home empty handed?
Having watched most of the games in this years tournaments, i believe the 3 best sides were USA, France and England. The 2 semi final games were like chalk and cheese and i can only see England grabbing 3rd and the Yanks winning yet another world Cup. Therefore i have done 2 x £3 wins and a £2 double on;

Sat; England 2-0 @ 17/2 - poss return of £28.50
Sun; USA 3-0 @ 9/1 - poss return of £30
94/1 double - poss return of £190

[ABerrant]

It may not be meaningless but losing 'bronze final' matches can adversely affect world rankings.

Who here can recall the 2011 Rugby World Cup when Wales entered the competition ranked 6th and Argentina ranked 9th.

Argentina lost in their QF and ended the tournament ranked 7th.

Wales won their QF, lost the SF and also lost the Bronze Final, resulting in a ranking of 8th.

[Old_Geezer]

Not meaninless, but not as enthralling as first.

You've missed the first already :-(

[Arksided]

I only half heartedly watched the Mens 3rd place play-off last summer and in my life the only other time 1990. Without being hypocritical (Having said I won't be bothering with the Women's World Cup games)
I did watch large parts of the Cameroon game and most of the USA one... I was surprisingly entertained well done to them.

I do believe I need a doctor and suffering from withdrawal symptoms of the real thing ;-)

[douglas9401]

They think it's all meaningless, it is now.

[tonyav]

I do believe I need a doctor and suffering from withdrawal symptoms of the real thing ;-)

Won't be long now, Arky. First premier match Friday 9th August, kick off 20:00.

[Cloverjo]

I think third place play-offs are fine when someone gets to stand on a podium to receive a bronze medal. Can’t see the point otherwise.

[Arksided]

Mr.AV, believe it or not its the first time I've looked at all the opening weekends fixtures... (Like rattling a Christmas present when I was a kid, I couldn't tell it were a bike ;-) Anyway I knew Uniteds' fixtures from when they were released a few good warm up games on the opening weekend before Ole v Lampost.

...and welcome back to top flight, a tough one for you :-)