Fifa gains in game of losers

Here comes a game that no one wants to be involved in. What glory two losers can achieve from a third-placing deciding game? For teams, nothing but the Cup matters. It's just cruel to ask one of the losing semifinalists to lose again.

David Luiz of Brazil (L) is consoled after a 7-1 defeat to Germany during the semi final match between Brazil and Germany at Estadio Mineirao on July 8, 2014 whild Wesley Sneijder of Holland (R) is consoled after defeat to Argentina during the match between The Netherlands and Argentina on July 9, 2014 at Arena de Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo: Getty Images

Crushed emotionally, both the Brazilians and Dutch badly needed a break from football and frustrated fans as well. All they want right now is to hide themselves somewhere for sometime and lick their wounds. But Brazil and the Netherlands have no choice. They have to take the field once more and play out the frivolous formality on July 13.

It will take Brazil decades to get over the humiliation they suffered at the hands of Germany.  A 7-1 drubbing was a slap across the face of a country that won more World Cups than any other football-playing nations.

Brazil never lost a match with such a huge margin, with their 6-0 defeat by Uruguay coming in 1920, ten years before the inception of the World Cup. That memory doesn't possibly even exist in the mind of the last few generations of Brazilians. The German mauling was just gross and a little more than a public flogging. Quite unabashedly, Brazil fans screamed and wept openly on the stands before booing their players off the ground.

Oscar of Brazil (center) reacts with teammates after being defeated 7-1 by Germany during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Semi Final match between Brazil and Germany at Estadio Mineirao on July 8, 2014 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Photo: Getty Images

Brazilian footballers are always treated as celebrities. They are hardly jeered at by the fans. In fact, the endless expectation of fans drives footballers, adorably called Selecao by their admirers, to be an entertainer and winner. But everything has been changed so dramatically since the crazy July 9. To make matters worse for Brazil, arch-rivals Argentina advanced into the final against Germany. Their neighbours too did not look impressive at all. But they played their semifinal the way Brazil should have played: More defending, less attacking.     

Back to a match three days into the disaster will be like getting punished twice for the same crime. The reception the Brazil players are to receive from the stands when they take to the pitch tomorrow will be interesting to see. And what if they lose again? May God bless Brazilians!

Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben of the Netherlands react with teammates after being defeated in a penalty shootout by Argentina during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Semi Final match between the Netherlands and Argentina at Arena de Sao Paulo on July 9, 2014 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo: Getty Images

The Netherlands will want little to do with the match, either. The Dutch possibly played the most entertaining football throughout the tournament. They were attacking and attractive. Arguably the best team, Netherlands choked on penalties for the sixth time in a World Cup. The quest for their maiden World Cup ended in the most agonizing of manners. The Dutch dread about playing in this meaningless match.      

Neither the teams nor the fans are interested. But Fifa, the game's world governing body, has a pervasive reason to keep the tradition of the third-place play-off going: more revenue. Fingers are crossed for the losers.