Sweden Down England To Finish Third At World Cup

Sweden ended their women’s World Cup campaign on a high by beating England 2-1 in Saturday’s third-place play-off in Nice, as Sofia Jakobsson’s first-half strike proved to be the winner.

England were looking to claim the bronze medals for the second successive World Cup, but it was Peter Gerhardsson’s side who finished third for the third time.

Kosovare Asllani gave Sweden an 11th-minute lead, before Jakobsson curled in an excellent second midway through the first half, and although Fran Kirby quickly pulled one back, England could not find an equaliser.

“I just think maybe it was a carry-on from the semi-final, the emotion,” said England manager Phil Neville.

“The two goals probably sparked us into life. After that, I thought it was the best we’ve played.”

It was a second defeat in under a week for Neville’s Lionesses, after suffering their third straight major tournament semi-final loss when beaten 2-1 by reigning champions the United States on Tuesday.

The Americans will face the Netherlands in the final in Lyon on Sunday.

“Both teams looked shot, to be honest, almost on their knees,” added former Manchester United player Neville. “It’s a really difficult game to get up for. It’s a nonsense game.

“We came to this tournament to win it, not to finish third or fourth.”

England, whose men’s team also lost the third-place play-off in last year’s World Cup to Belgium, started slowly and were made to pay for slack defending as Asllani put Sweden in front.

Left-back Alex Greenwood was at fault, totally miskicking an attempted clearance straight to Asllani, who drilled a low finish into the net.