Matildas v Sweden: After historic World Cup charge, Australia’s finale is much more than a normal third-place playoff

We will miss this World Cup when it’s over and, writes ADAM PEACOCK, the Matildas still have a chance for an emotional, historic send-off.

Australia will have one final chance to celebrate with their new national heroes on Saturday’s World Cup third place play-off. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

The Matildas will roll out for their last training session on Friday morning before their last World Cup game.

They’d be excused if it was the last thing they felt like doing.

A third placed playoff? Best-loser-palooza? A game with all the excitement of a family barbecue after a huge night out, begrudgingly attended and full of small talk and coleslaw that tastes funny?

Don’t believe it.

The Matildas’ finale against Sweden in Brisbane, staged just 68 hours after they trudged off Stadium Australia crestfallen, is far from a dead rubber.

Fifty thousand will fill the stands to pick them up, inspired, like the rest of the nation, by the team’s historic World Cup charge. And while cynics will dismiss the encounter as a content filler designed by FIFA to milk every last broadcast dollar out of the tournament, this specific third-placed playoff hits different.

It’s a celebration.

We will miss this World Cup once it’s over. It will be talked about for many, many years to come. So we may as well make the most of it, especially with the Matildas still in pursuit of history.

Australia has a final chance to celebrate the incredible run of the Matildas at the World Cup. Picture: Maddie Meyer – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

*****

The first third-place playoff at a World Cup was staged at the men’s event in 1934.

It wasn’t the most memorable event given it was staged by Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italian government and featured soon-to-be allies Germany and Austria.

Third-placed games at men’s World Cups continued, without the edge of oblivion plot line. In fact, many of them occurred without a plot at all.

At USA ‘94, Bulgaria was smashed 4-0 by Sweden, who celebrated wildly.

“I think this game is not proper,” Dimitar Penev, Bulgaria’s coach, said. “It should not be. There are too many games to play in too short a time. There’s too much stress.”

And last year in Doha, Morocco went on an amazing run to the semi-finals only to be beaten by France. The third-placed playoff was labelled by Morocco’s coach Walid Regragui as a “booby prize” and his team would proceed to lose the match, 2-1, to Croatia.

Luka Modric won a consolation prize with a third place at his final World Cup. Picture: Liu Lu/VCG via Getty Images

Much like on the pitch, with the diving and infiltrating the ref’s personal space, the blokes love a whinge.

A women’s World Cup is different.

And this one is different again.

In a brilliant way. Vibrant and full of energy.

This game provides another 50,000 fans the chance to see the Matildas play live, many back for more because they can’t get enough. Millions more will watch again on television.

And the players will carry the disappointment of Wednesday to Brisbane, but park it for one evening. The Matildas will not be motivated by financial gain, even though there are finances to gain. A victory would mean each player receives $177,000 as opposed to $166,500, which might mean the difference between the careless Cortnee Vine buying a standard set of wheels or taking the extras pack.

Rather, they will be pushing for a place in the history books, albeit on a different page to what they had initially hoped for.

The Matildas have the chance to finish their historic tournament on a euphoric high. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

No Australian team had advanced beyond the World Cup quarter-finals until now.

Final eight to top three? That’s genuine progress.

What Gustavsson does with his team selection for the Sweden game remains to be seen, but peripheral figures in the squad to this point deserve a go.

Tameka Yallop, who will be 36 by the time the next World Cup rolls around, could come into contention. Charli Grant, the rapidly improving young fullback who has taken a role on the bench behind Steph Catley and Ellie Carpenter, is another.

Grant has accepted her role at this World Cup with grace. Before each game, she has seldom been without a smile and often found dancing like an excited teenager when the stadium PA puts on a track to her liking (which has been pretty much all of them).

Then there is Lydia Williams, the selfless goalkeeper who, at 35, has slipped to number three in the pecking order behind Mackenzie Arnold and Tegan Micah. No-one deserves anything in sport, but it would be a beautiful touch if, even for just a few minutes, Williams, who has given the Matildas so much since 2005, got some game time.

Williams (R) hasn’t taken the pitch but has partaken in the joy at her likely last World Cup. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

This is the warm and fuzzy stuff but, deep down, every one of the squad will want to play some part in farewelling the World Cup in style.

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson told them as much in the huddle straight after Wednesday’s game.

“We have no time to dwell on this,” Gustavsson said. “If we get dragged down emotionally, we have no chance.”

Scattered among the players‘ disappointment on Wednesday night were thoughts of victory on Saturday against Sweden. This group also fell in a bronze-medal playoff at the Tokyo Olympics after a similar heartbreak in the semi-finals.

It is a result that still rankles.

“We went home from the Olympics empty-handed, we’re not going to be doing it this time,” Steph Catley said on Wednesday. “We’re going to bounce back and turn up for that game and give everything we have like we always do.”

“We need the nation to stay with us on the journey,” Katrina Gorry added, “and I’m sure we’ll make them proud.”

Originally published as Matildas v Sweden: After historic World Cup charge, Australia’s finale is much more than a normal third-place playoff