Not the final

                                    

                                          
(Leah's pov)
                          
We had spent over a month in France and it all came down to this, our 3rd place qualifier. We had gone out to the USA in the semifinal losing 2-1. 
                          
You could feel and see that our mood had changed since that match. We weren't the happy, funny and joking team, we had become more quiet.
                          
The whole team had received a lot of criticism during the world cup because our performances weren't the best and our high hopes were shattered after we lost the semifinals.
                          
We were all sat on the bus on our way to the stadium in Nice, where our world cup journey first started and would end. Hopefully with a bronze.
                          
We walked out of the bus and into the stadium changing room. We sat down with each player where their kit was hanging. "Come on girls! It's the last match, we atleast wanna come out with a bronze. I hate seeing you all like this." Lucy said breaking the silence.
                          
"Girls Lucy's right, our mood has to change, the semis broke our hearts but it's not the end of our journey, our journey ends after this match." Steph said as we all nodded our heads.
                          
We got changed and Phill called out the starting line up, since Millie was injured I was starting, and so was Jordan. We jogged onto the pitch and started our warm ups.
                          
After our warm ups, we jogged back into the changing room where we all got changed into our match t-shirts and put on our shin guards.
                          
"Okay girls, I know we wanted to make it to the final but we didn't so we've got to concentrate on today's match. I want you all to give it your 100%, get out there and fight for that 3rd place, leave it all in that pitch." Phil said before quickly going over the tactics once again.
                          
"Lets' go!" "This is it girls!" "Give it your 100%!" A few of my teammates shouted as we walked to the entrance of the stadium.
                          
We lined up with Steph going first, then Telford behind her and then the rest of us. I was behind Lucy and in front of Alex. My hand was shaking, I was getting very nervous to say the least.
                          
"Hey, it's gonna be okay, just do your best." Alex told me when she saw my hand.
                          
"Thanks Al, this is just the biggest stage and I don't want to fuck up." I told her, looking over my shoulder.
                          
"You won't. I've seen you play, there's a reason why you're here. Everybody sees it, I just need you to see it." She told me, squeezing my shoulder.
                          
"In three, two, one!" The official said, making us walk out from the tunnel.
                          
We came out as the crow cheered for us. We walked onto the grass and lined up side by side, with the officials in between both teams. The swedish national anthem was played and right after the english one.
                          
When it finished we turned 90º and walked down shaking the officials and the other team's hands before jogging over to infront of our bench to take off our sweatshirts and take a team photo.
                          
We got in our positions and the whistle blew, meaning the match was underway.
                          
About ten minutes into the match we were down by one, their number 9 had scored an unlucky goal for us. She shot the ball from outside the goal and it hit my leg deflecting it the opposite way telford had dived.
                          
Another 10 minutes later, another goal came from them, this time by their number 10. There was a corner kick for us, Beth wiped the ball in for us, but nobody got to the end of it as the goalie reached out and got the ball. She quickly kicked it up the pitch as their number 10 outran Lucy and Alex and kicked it past Telford.
                          
Luckily for us, we got a goal back after another 10 minutes, thanks to Fran. A pass behind the Sweden team by Jordan, reached the feat of Fran as she curled it into the far corner.