What heartbroken Matildas said after losing to England: World Cup

This is what players had to say as they came to terms with the result, which puts them into a bronze medal play-off with Sweden in Brisbane on Saturday night.

Regardless of the outcome, it will be the highest placing an Australian football team has ever recorded at a World Cup.

STEPH CATLEY: "Right now it's just heartbreak and disappointment that what we've done here is ultimately ended. We do have another game but we're proud that we created history, that we were able to get to the semi-final. But we ultimately believed that we could do something special and go all the way, so it's about processing that heartbreak and trying to bounce back and get ready for the next game."

SAM KERR: "Really disappointed, obviously. We just fell short but really proud of the girls for this whole tournament and I know it's kind of hard to say that now but just disappointment and immensely proud too."

HAYLEY RASO: "Just disappointment. It's really hard to take. We came into this tournament and we've achieved so much and we wanted to go all the way, so to fall just that little bit short, there's a lot of emotions around the camp at the moment."

KATRINA GORRY: "It sucks. A lot of emotions. It's 90 minutes and everything kind of gets turned on its head, but we've got to regroup, we've got to recover. There's still a lot on the line for us. We want to bring home the bronze medal for Australia so we'll regroup, we'll recover and we'll get ready for that."

MARY FOWLER: "Disappointed. I felt like we put what we could into that game. We did have our chances and just weren't able to put them away. And then England had a few chances and put them all away. That's football sometimes, but very frustrating to lose a game in that way."

ELLIE CARPENTER: "Obviously heartbroken. There's not too much more to say. We wanted to do the job done tonight and get to the final, and that didn't happen."

EMILY VAN EGMOND: "I felt throughout the game there was a bit of momentum swinging back and forth, but ultimately it's a game of chances and unfortunately we didn't take ours tonight and we'll be looking to finish the tournament now on a high and coming in third place."

KYRA COONEY-CROSS: "It hasn't sunk in yet. Obviously very disappointed, but now we just focus on Sweden."

CLARE HUNT: "There were times where we had momentum and we controlled the game, so I think we can be proud of our efforts tonight and move forward with our heads held high and fighting for third place when we play Sweden on Saturday."