Yep, the players would've been looking forward to the 3rd place playoff as much as a root canal at the dentist. Good on the Krauts, I was cheering for them to win, they deserved to get something out of this WC.
As for the final, France will have to be prepared for the Italians and their use of the dive-to-the-ground seriously injured "kick the ball out of play please I need treatment desperately!!!" tactic whenever they have just lost the ball in an attacking situation and the opposition are counterattacking against a weakened defence. They don't have the best defence in the WC for nothing (because they have heaps of time to set it up). Then the trainers all run on to the ground with their medical bags, which all contain - you guessed - bottles of water all round for the players to have a rest.
