Italy vs Uruguay, Confederations Cup Third Place Match: Open Thread

I’ve never been a fan of the third place match concept. While the games often feature lots of goals, the idea of the match itself is practically meaningless. Yes, they decide who finishes in third place in a tournament, but who cares? Without looking, do you remember the third place winner at Euro 2012 or World Cup 2010?

Regardless, Uruguay plays Italy today in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup to decide who’ll finish third and fourth. For viewers in the United States, coverage of the game begins at 11:45am ET on ESPN2 and WatchESPN.

Starting line-ups:

Italy: Buffon, Maggio, Chiellini, Astori, De Sciglio, Candreva, Gilardino, El Shaarawy, De Rossi, Montolivo, Diamanti.

Uruguay: Muslera, Lugano, Godin, Gargano, Rodriguez, Suarez, Forlan, Pereira, Arevalo, Cavani, Caceres.

Italy make five changes to their dramatic penalties defeat to Spain. Davide Astori, Mattia De Sciglio, Stephan El Shaarawy, Riccardo Montolivo and Alessandro Diamanti all come in, with Claudio Marchisio, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli, Andrea Pirlo and Emanuele Giaccherini all making way. Uruguay make just the one change, with Walter Gargano coming in to replace Alvaro Gonzalez.

Before, during or after today’s match, join the conversation with fellow soccer fans in the comments section below.