Germany and Uruguay will hope to salvage some pride in their third-place playoff match Saturday after devastating semifinal defeats earlier this week. The two teams were largely written-off in the run-up to the Finals but can hold their heads high after some stunning performances against top-ranked sides before their respective exits to Spain and Netherlands in the last four. Germany's high-scoring young side is determined to cap its impressive World Cup with one last win in Port Elizabeth where coach Joachim Loew promised his bitterly disappointed players will be in the right frame of mind and ready to win. “The disappointment is there but now we need to build up the team a bit,” he said after the Germans were dumped out 1-0 by a far superior Spanish outfit in Durban Wednesday. “I'm certain we will go into the match with the necessary focus. No one needs to hang their heads low and we want to have a good final match,” said Loew, whose team thrashed widely fancied England and Argentina in the knockout stages. History will not favor twice World Cup winner Uruguay in this match after fourth place finishes the last two times they reached the semifinals, losing out in the playoff to Austria in 1954 and the Germans in 1970. Germany has finished third on three occasions and lost the playoff only once in 1958, to France. Two players central to the German and Uruguayan marches through the knockout stages will be available again after suspensions that weighed heavily on both teams in the semis. Attacking midfielder Thomas Mueller was sorely missed by the Germans Wednesday and will likely start, as will Uruguay striker Luis Suarez, whose handball on the goal line late in the match against Ghana helped put his team in the last four. Uruguay, which lost 3-2 to the Dutch after a last-gasp fight back, could be without in-form marksman Diego Forlan Saturday because of a thigh problem sustained in the semifinal. Three players who could figure – Forlan, Mueller and Miroslav Klose – are joint second in the scoring charts after netting four times each. They all have a chance to win the golden boot if they can score twice and Spain's David Villa and Dutchman Wesley Sneijder – joint top scorers with five – draw blanks in Sunday's final. Forlan said he was eager to play in the third-place match and wanted himself and Uruguay could go out on a high. “I hope to be fit for Saturday,” he said. “I really want to play for third place. Even that would be great for everyone.” “I think it will be an attractive game – Germany play very good football,” said Forlan. “But we also have our style of play. I hope it will be a good game – but our goal is to go out there and win this third place for Uruguay.” Now he hopes to give the Uruguayan fans an exciting send off after the two-time champion's most successful campaign for 40 years. “I want to show my thanks to the people who have supported us. The important thing is to out there and get this third place,” says Forlan. German captain Philipp Lahm, who was in tears after the 1-0 loss to Spain, said a night's sleep had allowed him to digest the defeat a little bit more and had reflected on his initial decision that it was not worth playing in the consolation match. “Four years ago, we thought it was fantastic to play for third place,” said Lahm, referring to their defeat of Portugal in the third place match in Germany in 2006. “Before, like a lot of people, I didn't even want to watch this match on television. “But now, I believe that winning this match is important, that it can provide us with some consolation.” German coach Loew has a cold and missed his team's final practice. Captain Philipp Lahm and forward Lukas Podolski also have colds and both missed Friday's training as well. Striker Miroslav Klose did some fitness tests on back problems in the team hotel, while backup goalkeeper Tim Wiese was out with a right knee injury.
