Sweden defeats co-host Australia to take third place at 2023 Women's World Cup

Sweden defeated Australia 2-0 on Saturday in the 2023 World Cup's third-place game at Brisbane Stadium, the country's fourth bronze finish in nine editions of the tournament.

“It feels amazing. We showed from minute one, we were the better team,” said Fridolina Rolfö, who scored Sweden's first goal. “We deserve this medal.”

Co-hosting the World Cup with New Zealand, Australia's fourth-place finish is its best ever and star Sam Kerr stressed the positives after Saturday's loss.

“We wanted to win, we wanted to have some hardware to take home. Wasn’t to be,” said Kerr, who missed all three group stage games with injury. "But the way the fans have got behind us, the way girls have carried themselves, I think we’ve proven to the world we are a footballing nation.

“We couldn’t get it done tonight, but hopefully we’ve inspired people for many years to come.”

WORLD CUP CENTRAL: 2023 Women's World Cup Live Scores, Schedules, Standings, Bracket and More

The World Cup comes to an end on Sunday with England and Spain facing off in the final in Sydney.

Here's a look at the highlights from Saturday's Sweden-Australia game:

Fridolina Rolfö scores opening goal for Sweden

The Swedes were awarded a penalty less than 30 minutes into the game after a VAR review found that Australian defender Clare Hunt had tripped up Stina Blackstenius. Fridolina Rolfö stepped up and calmly found the back of the net past Aussie goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold to give Sweden a 1-0 lead.

Kosovare Aslanni makes it 2-0 to Sweden

Sweden broke through to score an insurance goal in the 62nd minute with Kosovare Asllani hammering home a shot from the top of the penalty area at the end of a sweeping counter-attack to double her team's advantage

What did Australia's Sam Kerr say?

“It’s sad that it’s come to an end. This has been the best four weeks of our careers,” Kerr, 29, said after Sunday's loss. “It would have been nice to go out on a high. But we have to reflect and think of how amazing this is.

“We’ve never come in fourth before. Although it’s disappointing (now), we’ll think back to this in a couple of weeks and be really proud of how we did.”

Kerr hurt her right leg in a tackle in the 75th minute and limped off the field for some treatment but returned to continue playing shortly a few minutes later.

When is the 2023 World Cup final?

England and Spain face off on Sunday in the tournament's championship game at 6 a.m. ET.

It will be the first women's World Cup title for either team and the victor will join Germany as the only countries to win both a men's and women's World Cup. England's men won on home soil in 1966 and Spain took home the trophy at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.