Women's World Cup: 3 England Stars Reveal Lionesses' Focus Is Now on Winning Bronze Medal

England winger Rachel Daly has insisted that the Lionesses will hold their heads high after 'inspiring a nation', as the team looks to finish this summer's Women's World Cup with a win in Saturday's third/fourth place playoff against Sweden and claim the bronze medal.

England finished third at the last World Cup four years ago, and repeating that feat in 2019 would at least show a level of consistency that is the hallmark of great sides.

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The Lionesses have been criticised in some quarters for failing to make it past the last four for the third tournament in a row, after also losing in the semi-finals at Euro 2017. Yet Daly doesn't see it as a failure as she and her teammates turn their attention to battling Sweden for bronze.

"People will say we're a semi-final team. They can say what they want, at the end of the day we've inspired a nation, we've given our heart and soul and no one can deny that," the versatile and dependable 27-year-old told 90min's Ben Haines.

"We'll walk away with our heads held high. We've got to get third place and that's the next battle now. We've got to get a bronze medal," she added. "People can say we're a semi-final team but at least we're consistent, so we'll improve on it and got for third place."

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Daly is not alone in being fully focused on wanting to end on a positive and finish third.

"We had such belief that we would make this final and we're devastated not to have stepped over the mark. But we've got a game on Saturday and have to pick ourselves up," Ellen White said.

Meanwhile, Jill Scott commented: "We're athletes and we'll pick ourselves up, we'll train hard and we know there's a medal up for grabs on Saturday.

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"We can guarantee to the people at home we'll be giving our all for that game and we'll be coming back with something because it's been a fantastic journey."

The third-place game against Sweden will take place in Nice, where England have already beaten Scotland and Japan so far at this tournament, on Saturday, kicking off at 4pm (BST).