Germany, Uruguay play it the right way

Germany edged Uruguay 3-2 Saturday night in Port Elizabeth in the game no team wants to play.

Amidst a seething downpour, Sami Khedira’s goal gave Germany a place on the podium and the bronze medal. Poor Uruguay, who were pipped by West Germany in 1970 for the bronze, once more had to settle for fourth.

These matches are bittersweet: For the fans, they are a last chance to celebrate a team’s magnificent run at the World Cup, but for the teams they are a painful reminder of how close they came to grabbing the trophy. You could see it in the taut smiles and perfunctory handshakes as the whistle blew.

Even though both teams played a fantastic game tonight, neither side really wished to be there.

Odd as it may seem, these second-chance matches tend to be more wide-open and free-scoring than the finals, perhaps because the participants tend to play professionally, but without the bite and the slide tackling.

And that brings up a point worth considering. After all, if you sit through a monsoon and a meaningless game, you might as well learn something from it. The game of football can be open and entertaining when players stay on their feet. Dare we say that the resulting product might well be a better brand of the sport?

With the players staying on their feet tonight— professional courtesy as no one wants to get hurt in a consolation game — there was an accent on offense and rather a nice absence of the flying boots which mar the modern game. Unfortunately, some confuse the hard-charging style with “proper” defense, so it must be said that tonight’s game showed how wrong-headed that is.

Defenders have used physical force to establish their advantage over the past two decades. They’ve been allowed to do so by referees who have been encouraged to overlook the fouling and a media culture that celebrates crunching play.

The thing is, when players respect the rules, don't tug shirts, don't hack from behind and keep the ball moving, the game is vastly improved. Should FIFA actually wish to discourage the soporific and negative style of play that permeated this Cup, they could do worse than looking at this game tape as an example of what their product could — and should — look like.

There were some very good goals today as well: Bastian Schweinsteiger's heavy strike from all of 30 yards created the opening German goal in the 19th minute, snapped up by a wide open Thomas Mueller after Fernando Muslera could only parry the swerving original drive. Mueller tucked the rebound neatly into the corner for his fifth goal of the competition.

Diego Perez led Uruguay back when he brilliantly stole possession from Schweinsteiger in center field to set up a counterattack which tied things nine minutes later, Edinson Cavani accepting a perfect through pass from Luis Suarez with a step on the chasers and plenty of room to beat Hans-Joerg Butt in the German goal.

Butt, was blameless on that play, and actually had a brilliant night. The back-up goalkeeper from Bayern Munich made at least three top-class saves to keep Germany in the hunt, and Suarez, in particular, will spend some of his vacation time wondering what it might have beaten the Bayern man Saturday night.

Diego Forlan's go-ahead scissors-volley in the 51st minute brought him level with Mueller, Wesley Sneijder and David Villa in the race for the Golden Boot and was just desserts for a player who took his country on his back for long stretches in this tournament. Egidio Arevalo Rios’ little run to the byeline and cut-back to the top of the box set up Forlan to first-time a very difficult shot that bounced hard and high past the stranded Butt.

But Uruguay could not hold: It took just four minutes for Jerome Boateng's searing cross from the right to settle among three defenders and find Marcell Jansen's head for the second equalizer of the evening. Muslera , who got shakier with each passing game in this tournament, failed to collect the curling service giving had an open net to hit as a result, pulling Germany back to 2-2.

Mesut Oezil's corner, won by the work of Stefan Kiessling, set up the match-winner headed home by Khedira in the 83rd minute after the Uruguayan defense made a hash of things in front of Muslera. Kiessling, who had come on as late substitute for Cacau, was instantly active up front, just missing a headed goal chance before the decisive strike owed something to his ability to add some speed for Germany up top.

The last kick of the match was special as well, with Forlan striking the crossbar off a free kick from just outside the top of the area. Had that curled under, the result might have been different in the end.

TOMORROW

Holland vs. Spain for the Big Cup. If you’re away from your TV remember that you can follow all the action via Twitter @championsonfox.

Jamie Trecker is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com.