Germany and England are entering the third-place matchup in extreme disappointment. Germany entered the 2015 World Cup tournament as the No.1 team and lost in a 2-0 battle to the USA who will now go on to face Japan in the Finals. After being a dominating offense throughout the tournament, Germany was shut down and must now figure out how to pull things back together. Meanwhile, England comes into the match after losing on an own-goal and must eliminate the distractions to try and at least get third place.
England is searching for some kind of joy in what has been a historic World Cup run for the team. England got farther than anyone ever predicted they would, but all they will be remembered for in this tournament is not their unpredicted success, but they way they lost to Japan. Laura Bassett attempted to swat away a Japan ball and instead kicked it over the goal keeper's head for an own-goal giving the Japanese team the win and the chance to rematch the Americans in the final.
England is going into the third-place match with their heads held high. Germany can expect the England team to come in extremely motivated, especially Bassett who needs to put that match behind her. According to manager Mark Sampson, Bassett and the rest of the team are ready.
"She looked back in my eye, and said, 'I'm in for the team,'" Sampson said, via the Boston Herald.. "It was an easy answer, wasn't it? She's in a good place now, I'm 100 percent certain it's right for the team that Laura plays tomorrow. And I'm very confident Laura and the team will produce another big performance."
Meanwhile Germany is coming off a rare shutdown loss. Leading scorers Cilia Sasic and Anja Mittag where left to wonder what went wrong as a strong US defense took away any possible scoring opportunities for the team. They will be motivated despite this being a third-place match. Sasic still has a chance to win the Golden Ball which is given to the best player in the tournament. She is looking to make up for the missed penalty kick against the US.