The runners-up runners-up

The Third Place Play-off in the FIFA World Cup has been called utterly meaningless and Louis van Gaal made no bones about how he would rather be in Manchester inaugurating his Old Trafford reign than contesting this curtain-raiser for the final.  I, however, think this 'losers' final is very worthwhile for the non-superpowers whose ability could carry them to the semi-final and no further.  Had Costa Rica triumphed in the penalties over the Netherlands, you can bet your house that they'd like to finish officially as high in the tournament as possible.  Turkey revelled in finishing third at the 2002 World Cup and South Korea were quite disappointed that they could not attain that themselves.  Like England in 1990, the Dutch in 1998 went into a pouting fugue at not making the final, but don't tell the Croatians it meant nothing - it was the most glorious achievement in their short footballing history to finish third.  Sweden were happy to secure third over Bulgaria in 1994 given that the final wasn't to be.  Even finishing fourth isn't a disaster as they still get certificates (rather than bronze medals) as tangible proof of their partial success - recognising greats like Peter Shilton or Luis Figo.  Moreover, it's a crumb of comfort to a host nation that falls at the final hurdle if they can finish in the bronze medal position as it was for Germany in 2006 and Italy in 1990.  That was the game plan for Brazil but it didn't pan out that way.
These boys from Brazil will be even more loathed than their fictional namesakes.  They upset not just their own nation but a lot of senior international pundits who grew up revering the seleção, plus North Korea who thought that their own drubbing against Portugal in 2010 (the first time the authorities had ever shown their national football team play live to their populace) could be put in perspective, only for Oscar to pop up in the 90th minute and make it 7-1.  In a way, Neymar was lucky to have a vertebrae fractured that ruled him out of that farrago of a performance.
I was a big fan of the Dutch but to not score in four hours as van Gaal was determined to become the first Dutch coach not to lose in normal or extra time.  Stifling Argentina in the same manner as Belgium and Switzerland, they deserved to lose on penalties for sucking the life out of the game, which they probably would have repeated in the final.  The Dutch peaked too early in winning all three of their games in the most lethal of the Groups of Death, humbling the Spanish 5-1
The Confederations Cup win in 2013 by Brazil was illusory as the gilded era of Spanish dominance was on its way out as proved definitively in this tournament.  They were too many weaknesses in Brazil and Luiz Felipe Scolari felt the pressure to win beautifully as the host nation where previously he had achieved success with a 'play ugly, win many' modus operandi with Brazil in 2002 (with a far more exalted choice of players available) and Portugal 2004-06.  Some of the players were abysmal.  Paulinho had one touch, if that, in the first 45 minutes - not so much a passenger as the occupant of the hearse.  Hulk went through his usual routine of 'Hulk shoots, Hulk misses, Hulk sad'.  Jo was absolutely no improvement on the non-scoring goalscorer Fred.  And David Luiz - £50m, to be teamed with Thiago Silva at the heart of the Paris St-Germain defence suggests the Qataris want to give Monaco a more realistic rack at Ligue 1 next season.  I've tweeted through many World Cup games, really improving my 'digital footprint' but not the final, particularly as I missed in real time the Dutch making it 3-0 against Brazil as I focused on getting my spelling correct.  I've kind of come around to the Germans winning - one reason is that Miroslav Klose will right the anomaly of being the top World Cup goalscorer without actually winning it; also, given the expense the Brazilians have forked out to pay for the tournament (partly through being so tardy at getting their act together they had to pay double- and triple-time to get the show halfway ready), it's unlikely there will be another World Cup in South America, even when their 'turn' comes up again in 20 years, so it's imperative that a European team wins for the first time on South American soil.  I won't be unhappy if Argentina do it, for Messi, but the Germans seem the complete package, deserving rather than lucky.