Germany will be looking to ease their pain of not making it to the final of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2015, as they prepare to play England in the third-place playoff game at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada, on Saturday.
The German eves were the favourites to lift the title for a record third time prior to the start of the competition, but the No. 1 ranked team according to the FIFA Women's World Rankings tasted a bitter defeat against the United States Women's Soccer Team (USWNT) in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Silvia Neid's side were handed a 2-0 defeat, despite having a good outing in the seventh edition of the World Cup, that saw them undefeated until the game against the USWNT.
England, on the other hand, tasted a bittersweet campaign this year, as they got through to the knockout stage, to make it the semi finals of the World Cup for the first time in their history. The Three Lionesses rallied on to beat Norway as well as hosts Canada in the knockout stages, but the loss in the semifinal against Japan broke hearts.
The game was locked 1-1 following the end of 90 minutes, and looked set for going into extra time. However, England defender Laura Bassett scored for her own side at the death, to hand the defending champions a 2-1 win.
Mark Sampson, head coach of the England women's team, said that Bassett would recover in time for the game against Germany, and described the 31-year-old defender as an "England warrior".
"Regardless of what happened, it wouldn't surprise me if she [Bassett] was a contender for a place in the team of the tournament," Sampson said.
"If I walked away now they [England] would turn up on Saturday and absolutely go for it. I won't but I don't think this team will need any extra motivation. It's England versus Germany."
Germany striker Alexandra Popp, however, is clearly disappointed that her team did not make the final, and she is determined to secure the bronze title.
"We're very disappointed that we didn't make it to the final, of course," Popp told FIFA.com.
"We were missing that little bit of luck after probably using up a little too much of it against France [in the quarter-finals]. We want to secure third place; fourth would be rubbish," Popp added.
In their previous meeting, Germany thrashed England 3-0 in a historic women's match at the Wembley in November 2014.
Where to Watch Live
FIFA Women's World Cup clash between England and Germany is scheduled at 1am IST, 8:30 PM BST, 3:30pm EST. There is no live coverage in India.
Viewers in the US can watch the game live on Fox Network with live streaming on Fox Soccer2 Go.
Those in the UK can catch the action live on BBC Three / BBC Three HD / British Eurosport / British Eurosport HD with live streaming on BBC iPlayer.
Viewers in Germany can watch their home team in action on ORF Sport Plus and can be watched online on ORF TV Live Streaming.
