Matildas to look back in pride after thrilling host nation

MELBOURNE : Australia bowed out of the Women's World Cup title race with the sting of a lost opportunity against England, but the co-hosts will look back in pride at a campaign that rallied a nation around them.

The home fans at Stadium Australia and a record TV audience that watched Wednesday's 3-1 semi-final defeat will wonder what might have been had the Matildas stayed strong in defence after their captain Sam Kerr's stunning equaliser.

England's second goal may haunt Ellie Carpenter, whose failure to clear an innocuous long ball opened the door for Lauren Hemp to swoop.

Lax marking also helped Hemp set up Alessia Russo's sealer that put England into Sunday's final against Spain and left the home team in tears.

Distraught midfielder Katrina Gorry worried the Matildas had let the nation down after building them up on their first run to a World Cup semi-finals.

While tough to swallow for the players ahead of Saturday's third place playoff against Sweden, Gorry may have been marking them too hard.

She may find solace in the tributes and condolences offered by fans and media in the aftermath.

"The joyride is over, but the glow will long remain," sports columnist Greg Baum wrote in Melbourne's The Age newspaper.

"Once the hurt subsides, and it will, the prevailing sentiment ought to be not disappointment in falling so near to the grail, but pride in getting so close."

In all but the loftiest metric - winning the tournament - the Matildas scored highly.

Australia were the lowest-ranked side in a semi-finals hogged by European powerhouses.

They can now count themselves among the global elite, having long craved that status but never quite delivered on the world stage.

With Kerr sidelined with a calf injury through the group phase, the