Sweden beat England 2-1 in Women's WC third-place playoff

Sweden won the bronze of the FIFA Women's World Cup with a 2-1 win over England at the third-place playoff on Saturday.

Sweden were already 2-0 up after 22 minutes into the match, England pulled one back and had one goal disallowed in the first half. Both sides, who seemed to be running out of steam, failed to scored after break.

Philip Neville conceded his sided underperformed in a nonsense game.

"The two goals (including the disallowed one) probably sparked us into a bit of life, and after that, I don't think I've seen us play better," he said.

"It is really difficult to get yourself up for third-place games. Well done Sweden, but it's a nonsense game. We came at this tournament to win it, not to finish fourth," he said.

"The players have delivered everything I wanted, but we've got 15, 20 percent to go. That's sport. Many a champion has had to suffer before they get what they deserve," he said.

Sweden went 1-0 ahead at the 11th minute through Kosovare Asllani who whacked a fluffed clearance from English defender Alex Greenwood into the bottom.

Sofia Jakobsson made it 2-0 for Sweden at the 22nd minute when she strided into the area before curving a shot across English goalkeeper Carly Telford and into the bottom right.

Fran Kirby pulled one back for England at the 31st minute as she dribbled into the area and sent a precision curler into the goal.

One minute later, English striker Ellen White had her goal ruled out due to VAR check.