Sweden claimed third place in the World Cup by dominating the English team, who were no longer really engaged and woke up too late to challenge their rivals.
The Swedish team had one less day of recovery than the English to prepare for the third-place match, but they clearly had more energy at the start of the game. In Nice, under sweltering heat, the Scandinavians played high-quality football in the first half, and that’s where the difference was made, as England never managed to recover from the two-goal deficit conceded in the first half-hour.
The Swedish team opened the scoring very early, capitalizing on a very poor clearance by Greenwood. Kosovare Asllani forcefully took the ball to deceive the English goalkeeper (0-1, 12th minute). Ten minutes later, Sofia Jakobsson delivered a magnificent curling shot that found the back of the net (0-2, 22nd minute).
The English team did not admit defeat. Just after the half-hour mark, Fran Kirby embarked on a solo raid from the right side, finishing with her left to pull one back and reignite the match (1-2, 31st minute).
The match nearly became even crazier when two minutes later, Ellen White scored to equalize! But the goal was disallowed by VAR due to a handball by the English forward.
The rest of the game was less lively, as both teams were overwhelmed by the heat and tired after the World Cup. Towards the end of the match, Swedish player Fischer made a magnificent goal-line clearance with her head to stop a shot from Lucy Bronze.
The Swedish team thus clinched third place in the 2019 World Cup. England, finishing fourth, failed to match their 2015 performance, which was their best result in history. For Sweden, however, securing a medal is a familiar achievement. They had already finished on the podium in 1991, 2003 (losing in the final against Germany, 1-2 after extra time), and 2011.
