Turkey and Holland for the third place

Netherlands coach Ruud Kaiser still remembers that sad final defeat against Turkey in Italy some months ago. "We wasted an incredible number of chances in the first half, and luck deserted us." Now the Oranje team have a chance at redemption in the third place play-off of the FIFA U-17 World Championship Peru 2005.

Now that both teams have seen their dreams of World Championship glory shattered, it will be fascinating to see which of them can still focus and find the necessary motivation. The Dutch camp are still bitterly disappointed to have missed out on the final. "We were unfortunate against Mexico and it simply wasn't our day. It is a scandal that we are not in the final," claimed midfielder Niels Vorthoren. "The Mexicans converted every opportunity while we wasted a series of chances. I do not think Mexico were better than us."

It was scant consolation for the Dutch to be ranked among the best four U-17 teams in the world. "That is obviously satisfying but it is outweighed by the disappointment of missing the final." However, that is not to say the European Championship runners-up will be lacking in motivation: "The third place play-off is very important. We want to end the tournament on a high and the fact that we are playing Turkey gives us great motivation because it will be a chance for revenge for the European Championship final."