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Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal, who saw his team lose on penalties in the semi-final to Argentina, wants the third-place playoff between the losing semi-finalists to be discarded.
The Netherlands are scheduled to play hosts Brazil on Saturday, who lost to Germany 7-1 in the other semi-final. The argument made by van Gaal may be seen as whining from a sore loser but it is a valid point nonetheless.
Playoff at the World Cup
The scrapping of the playoff might be a huge change from the World Cup tradition but it isn’t the Olympics by any means. A medal in the Olympics is an achievement to be proud off no matter what the colour of the medal. Athletes strive hard to win even a bronze at the competition and make a compelling story worth telling your grandchildren but a football World Cup isn’t the same.
Teams play the World Cup to win the grand prize, to be the last team standing among a large group of 32. There are no consolation prizes for participation and any team worth its salt would prefer being in Rio right now rather than anywhere else.
Louis van Gaal’s thoughts
Louis van Gaal will now take over as Manchester United’s manager after the World Cup, and so it might also be a factor influencing his belief.
Speaking in a press conference after the semi-final defeat he said "I think this match should never be played, I've been saying that for 10 years. It's unfair - we have one day less to recover than our opponents.”
“But the worst thing is I believe that, chances are, you lose twice in a row and a tournament where you've played so marvellously well you'll leave as a loser after losing the last two matches. There's only one award that counts, and that's being world champion."
