World Cup 2006: and in third place
Nice to have a match on with an 8 o'clock kickoff, meaning those of us who go to work on a Saturday can do just that, and still be home in time to eat roast chicken and be sat in front of the screen for the action.

Germany 3 Portugal 1
Well, Martin O'Neill called it "the most meaningless game of the World Cup," to much embarrassed shifting in seats among the BBC pundits at half time. He's right of course. The third-place play-off is never, on paper, a mouth-watering prospect, but with Germany involved, and the pantomime villains Portugal on the other end of them, it had to be good. And it was. (Gary Lineker corrected Martin O'Neill after the final whistle, calling the play-off "one of the greatest adventures in football," presumably for balance.) Such melodrama! Klinsmann put Oliver Kahn in goal; possibly his last international match, so that was loaded with portent, and he did well, albeit occasionally keeping Portugal out by luck, but mostly by skill. Scolari, amid rumours of a bust-up, kept Luis Figo on the bench, despite it being his last match before retirement. Would he play? We all hoped so. And indeed, Big Phil thawed and let him on for the last ten minutes, which were not wasted. But after a horns-locked first half, full of chances and free kicks that amounted to nothing (and a 46th minute dive from boo-magnet Ronaldo that had to be seen in slow motion to be fully appreciated - he was actually pleading to the Japanese ref with his little boy's face as he went to the floor, the cheeky numbskull), the second half was a goalfest, with - seemingly out of nowhere - Schweinsteiger putting three past Ricardo from a near-identical spot each time in the 56th, the 61st and the 78th, albeit with a little help from Portugal's Petit for the middle one, put on at half time for this very purpose perhaps? It all started to fall away for Portugal, but at least they redeemed themselves just before the end, when Figo served up a Nuno Gomes goal, silver service, and won his spurs on his last day at the office.

A good result for Germany, who at least looked as determined as their coach to win this one, meaningless or not. It's sad to see Ronaldo being hissed at, but at the same time, every drama needs a baddie. My headline comes from a homemade German banner, which is nice.