Key Highlights Race for Golden Boot: England's Kane has six goals while Belgium's Lukaku has four Third-fourth place playoffs are often more entertaining than the World Cup final The team finishing third reportedly pockets $22 million in prize money Who wins the Golden Boot this year? England's Harry Kane is currently the leading scorer at Russia 2018 with 6 goals. But with 4 goals, Belgium's Romelu Lukaku isn't far off. Previous Golden Boot winners, who have netted in 'bronze medal' matches: France's Just Fontaine (1958), Portugal's Eusebio (1966), Italy's Salvatore Schillaci (1990), Croatia's Davor Suker (1998) and Germany's Thomas Muller (2010). ALSO READ: England, Belgium aim to leave on a high Third-place matches at the World Cup have often been more entertaining than the final itself. World Cup finals are cagier and more cautious affairs with the last 7 producing only 10 goals. On the contrary, third-fourth matches in the last 7 editions have yielded 27. We're talking a goal every 72 minutes in finals and every 22 minutes in third-fourth matches. Having finished 4th in the 1986 edition, Belgium could go one better and achieve their best-ever finish at a World Cup. If England end third, they would achieve their second-best finish ever (they won the 1966 World Cup and finished 4th in 1990). The match is still a competitive international and the FIFA ranking points could also come in handy when it comes to future seedings. The team finishing third reportedly pockets $22 million in prize money—that's $2 million more than the team ending the tournament in fourth.<doc-sep>| FT - Belgium beat England 2-0 to finish third in 2018 World Cup 90+3' - Yellow Card! 90' - 89' - 84' - Substitution! 82' - GOAL! Eden Hazard doubled the lead for Belgium 79' - SAVE! 78' - Substitution! 78' - Yellow Card! 74' - 72' - 71' - 70' - SAVE! 68' - 65' - 63' - 62' - 60' - Substitution! 59' - 54' - MISSED! 52' - Yellow Card! 51' - 49' - 47' - 46' - Substitutions! IN - OUT - HT - Belgium lead England 1-0 at the halftime break 45+2' - 45' - 45' - 39' - Substitution! 39' - 39' - 35' - 34' - 32' - 28' - 27' - 23' - MISSED! 19' - 17' - MISSED! 15' - 12' - SAVE! 9' - 7' - 4' - GOAL! Thomas Meunier put Belgium in the lead KICK-OFF TIME Starting line-ups Belgium (3-4-3): Coach: England (3-5-2): Coach: Referee: TEAM NEWS Belgium finished third in the World Cup, their best-ever performance, when they beat England 2-0 with an early Thomas Meunier goal and a breakaway finished by Eden Hazard in Saturday's playoff between the losing semi-finalists. Meunier finished off a devastating move when he turned in Nacer Chadli's low cross at the far post in the fourth minute after Romelu Lukaku's pass sliced open the English defence.Axel Witsel bookedThree minutes added as stoppage timeTime is running out for England. And Belgium looked certain for their best finish in the World Cups.Third change for England: Ruben Loftus-Cheek is replaced by Dele Alli.This time Jordan Pickford was beaten as Hazard coolly shot it into the near post net to double the lead. Kevin de Bruyne with the assist.Thomas Meunier's thunderous volley from the right of the England box was cleared out by a diving Jordan Pickford. What a move from Belgium. Meunier got the pass from Dries Mertens (from the left), who collected the through pass from Kevin de Bruyne.Third change for Belgium: Youri Tielemans is replaced by Mousa DembeleEngland's Harry Maguire booked for dissentFree-kick for England. Kieran Trippier found Harry Maguire near the far post but the defender headed it wide of Belgium goalAnother corner for England. Marcus Rashford's delivery was headed out for an England throw-inThe resultant corner delivered by Kieran Trippier was headed out easily by BelgiumEric Dier won the battle with Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois but Toby Alderweireld cleared it from the goal line. UNLUCKYEric Dier tried a low shot from distance which needed a dive from Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois to collect itCorner for England. This time Kieran Trippier delivered the ball to Harry Kane, who tried a volley from the edge of Belgium area but mishit it.Vincent Kompany tried a flick in front of the England goal. Cleared out by the defendersCorner for Belgium. It ended with another corner.Change for Belgium: Romelu Lukaku is replaced by Dries MertensFabian Delph's cross in into the Belgium box was long and collected by Thibaut Courtois comfortablyHalf chance for Harry Kane, but the striker failed to touch the ball in front of the Belgium goal. Jesse Lingard volleyed the cross in from the rightEngland's John Stones booked for a foul on Eden HazardFree-kick for England. Kieran Trippier curled it into the middle of Belgium box and it ended with a corner for England. Thibaut Courtois charged out to collect the ball calmly from the set pieceGood build-up game by England near the Belgium area, but the final cross in by Kieran Trippier was latched up by Thibaut Courtois easilyRuben Loftus-Cheek made a run into the Belgium box but the defenders were alert and it ended with a goal kick.Double change for England:Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford |Danny Rose and Raheem SterlingSecond half underway...Belgium led England 1-0 after a lively opening 45 minutes in the third-place play-off thanks to a fourth-minute goal from Thomas Meunier. Meunier turned in Nacer Chadli's low cross from close range after Romelu Lukaku's pass had sliced open the England defence. Belgium produced some flowing moves and always looked dangerous while England also threatened, with Harry Kane firing wide after being set up by Raheem Sterling.Romelu Lukaku's shot was deflected out by John Stones for a Belgium corner. But the ref blew the halftime whistle before the set piece was takenTwo minutes added as stoppage timeGood run from Belgium again. De Bruyne cross it to Meunier on the right but the final cross in into the middle of the England box was cleared out.Forced change for Belgium: Nacer Chadli is replaced by Thomas VermaelenNacer Chadli's delivery was headed out by England defenders easilyBelgium on the counter. Kevin de Bruyne lopped it into the middle of England box, which was headed out for a corner for BelgiumKevin de Bruyne crossed it low to the edge of the England box from the set piece and Youri Tielemans mishit it from there . The ball lopped into the box and Toby Alderweireld tried an overhead kick which went just over the England goalEden Hazard's shot was blocked out by John Stomes. It's the first corner for BelgiumEric Dier's cross in into the Belgium area was cleared out easilyThomas Meunier's cross in from the right flank was tad long for Lukaku, who charged into the middle of England boxEngland winning the possession game but Belgium look more threatening in their attacking movesHarry Kane shot it wide from the top of the Belgium box. He got the ball in the middle of the area from Raheem Stirling on the leftCorner for England. Harry Maguire with the header, but it went straight to Belgium keeper Courtois.Kevin de Bruyne found Romelu Lukaku inside the England box with a brilliant through pass, but the striker's first touch was tad heavy and Jordan Pickford charged out to collect it safely.Ruben Loftus-Cheek's header was straight to Thibaut Courtois, who collected the ball comfortably. Good move from EnglandJordan Pickford palmed the ball away to deny Kevin de Bruyne. De Bruyne got the ball inside the England box from Romelu Lukaku, but the attempt was a weak one.Free-kick for England from distance. Kieran Trippier's delivery was long and Courtois collected it calmlyAttack by England from the right flank, but the final touch was heavy and it ended with an easy collection of the ball by Belgium keeper Thibaut CourtoisThomas Meunier, who returned from suspension, scored early to put Belgium in the lead. It was the first attack of the match so far and Belgium scored their 15th of the tournament. It was the quickest goal conceded by England in World Cups. Nacer Chadli with the assist.Here we go....Players are out in the field. And it's time for National Anthems.Thibaut Courtois; Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen; Thomas Meunier, Axel Witsel, Youri Tielemans, Nacer Chadli; Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard (capt).Roberto Martinez (ESP)Jordan Pickford; Phil Jones, John Stones, Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier, Eric Dier, Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Danny Rose; Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane (capt).Gareth Southgate (ENG)Alireza Faghani (IRI)England manager Gareth Southgate made five changes to his team for World Cup third-place play-off against Belgium but the tournament's top scorer Harry Kane starts. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Eric Dier, Phil Jones, Danny Rose and Fabian Delph all come into the starting line-up after beginning on the bench in the semi-final defeat to Croatia. Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young, Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson are all dropped to the bench by Southgate. Kane, who with six goals is favourite for the Golden Boot, will start alongside Raheem Sterling.Belgium manager Roberto Martinez made two changes with Thomas Meunier returning from suspension and Youri Tielemans given a start. Midfielders Mousa Dembele and Marouane Fellaini make way.Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the third-place play-off between Belgium and England. The match starts at 19:30 IST.<doc-sep>
The third-place game is played between the losers of the semi-final round in the World Cup and is generally forgotten about – so what is its purpose? Belgium will face England on Saturday to play in the World Cup's third-place play-off fixture, which awards the winner the bronze medal of the tournament. The third-place fixture is generally a forgotten and obsolete event, as neither team would be keen on playing in it – they would much rather be in the final, and go home as 'losers' of the tournament regardless. It is played between the teams who were eliminated in the semi-final of the competition. Here is everything you need to know about this year's third-place fixture. What is the World Cup third-place play-off? The third-place play-off is essentially a consolation match to be played between the two losers of semi-final round, and in this case, it will be played between Belgium and England. The game was first introduced at the second World Cup finals in Italy in 1934, but has since become massively unpopular with the teams – and is extra added work for a meaningless honour. Belgium lost 1-0 to France in the last four of the competition and England were defeated by Croatia 2-1 in extra-time after taking the lead early on in the first half. The fixture is generally forgotten about and thought of as a meaningless game, as neither team would much rather prefer to have played in the final – and the winners of the so-called 'bronze medal' are usually not remembered once the tournament finishes. The Netherlands won the third-place play-off match four years ago against tournament hosts Brazil. Brazil entered the fixture off the backs of their humiliating 7-1 defeat to eventual champions Germany, and lost 3-0 – which led to head coach Luis Felipe Scolari being dismissed from his post. For the Dutch team, it was their first bronze medal in the World Cup after finishing as tournament runners-up in South Africa four years prior. When is the World Cup third-place play-off? This year's third-place play-off fixture will be played on Saturday July 14, one day before the World Cup final at 3pm BST (10am EST) at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg. Why is there a World Cup third-place play-off? The official reasoning behind the fixture is that its results will be used to compile FIFA's global team rankings, which are also used to seed teams for competitions. The main reason for the third-place play-off is, of course, television rankings. According to the official FIFA report about TV ratings for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the third-place fixture between Uruguay and Germany was the 14th-most-watched game out of the event (out of 64 total fixtures) in terms of global television viewers, at 245 million (which takes into account both viewers of the live telecast and viewers of replays or tape-delayed telecasts). It also garnered more television viewers than four of the eight last 15 fixtures, and two of the four quarter-finals. It has been met with disdain by several key figures in the sport, such as Louis Van Gaal who coached the Dutch team when they won the fixture four years ago – calling it "unfair". "This match should never be played. I've been saying that for 10 years; it's unfair," said Van Gaal ahead of the third-place clash against Brazil, who was about to take over as head coach of Manchester United. "The worst thing is that there is a chance you are going to lose twice in a row. And in a tournament in which you have played so marvellously well you go home as a loser. Article continues below "There is only one award that counts and that is becoming world champions." Additionally, it is also a chance for the fans for the participating fans to enjoy watching their team at a World Cup stage without the pressure. It is also an opportunity for players to play in a high-profile game on one of the sport's biggest stages without the usual burden.