Brazil vs. the Netherlands

Brazil, still licking their wounds from their 7-1 defeat in Tuesday's semifinal against Germany, will be looking to salvage some pride when they take on the Netherlands in the game for third place in Brasilia on Saturday.

Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari failed to muster much enthusiasm for the game, saying the match was about realizing "a very small dream." He also said the last few days had been about trying to provide his players with "psychological recuperation" after their semifinal battering in front of their own fans.

His captain, Thiago Silva, tried to put a brave face on things though.

"The motivation is there, for me anyway. It is different of course to trying to finish in first place but we have to do everything to turn the page," said the Paris Saint-Germain defender, who returns from the suspension that kept him out of the semifinal.

After his Dutch side lost to Argentina on penalties in their semifinal on Wednesday, coach Louis van Gaal quipped that Saturday's game for third place "should never be played."

"I've been saying that for 10 years; it's unfair," the former Bayern Munich coach said. "There is only one award that counts and that is becoming world champions."

Since then though, van Gaal has changed his tune slightly, telling a press conference on Friday that his team would do all it could to win, as this would make them the first Dutch team to go undefeated at a World Cup - in regulation or extra time.

pfd/jh (AFP, dpa)