The curtain has come down on the Matildas’ World Cup campaign, with a lethargic squad defeated by the energetic Swedes in Brisbane on Saturday night.

The Australians lost to Sweden 2-0 in the play-off for third place in front of a home crowd of around 50,000 at Suncorp Stadium.

Although it was a disappointing finish, the Matildas still made history.

Fourth place is the best an Australian side has ever achieved at a FIFA World Cup.

“We’re really disappointed,” said Captain Sam Kerr.

“Fourth again. It feels like the worst position to come.

“But as a whole, the whole tournament, we have to be really proud.”

Kerr said it was “sad” that their World Cup experience was coming to an  end.

“This has been the best four weeks of our careers,” she said.

“It would have been nice to go out on a high. But we have to reflect and think of how amazing this is.

“We’ve never come fourth before. Although it’s disappointing, we’ll think back to this in a couple of weeks and be really proud of how we did.”

Coach Tony Gustavsson named an unchanged starting line-up from the 3-1 semi-final loss to England, despite a three-day turnaround.

The gamble of not calling on fresh legs backfired as the tired Matildas’ best-ever World Cup ended on a sour note.

For most of the game, Australia were dominated by the energetic Swedes.

Matildas captain Sam Kerr is tackled by Magdalena Eriksson. Photo: Getty

Coach Gustavsson stood by his lack of squad rotation after the weary Matildas slumped to a 2-0 loss.

Despite frequently talking about his squad’s depth, Gustavsson rarely turned to his bench.

Sweden took the lead early when Fridolina Rolfo took a penalty spot at the half-hour mark.

Kosovare Asllani added a long-range second goal in the 62nd minute.

Australia’s largely blunted, and seemingly exhausted, attack were unable to mount a comeback.

“If I would have rotated a lot of players and then lose it would be ‘why didn’t you stick with it?’. And if I (was) not rotating and lose, that will be a sharp question, which is fair,” Gustavsson said.

Of the 23-player squad, only 14 featured in an average of 30 or more minutes per match while Caitlin Foord, Katrina Gorry, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Ellie Carpenter and Steph Catley were run into the ground.

Caitlin Foord played the rest of the match with a head injury. Photo: Getty

Brave Caitlin Foord developed a black eye and a lump on the side of her head after clashing heads with Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani.

But she soldiered on, sporting a bandaged head, for the entirety of the game.

Foord played in the 4-3 loss to the US in the bronze medal playoff at the Tokyo Olympics and said it was a case of deja vu.

“It hurts to be here and get so close and fall short again,” she said.

“The exact same thing happened at the Olympics and it was my worst nightmare for that to happen again and it has happened again.

“We just need to grow and learn from it and never let this happen again.

“I feel like we deserved to get something out of this tournament. I know we have, but personally for us to no have something around our neck is very disappointing.”

Sam Kerr went down screaming in pain holding her right calf — the opposite leg to her previous injury — after a challenge from Magdalena Eriksson in the 75th minute.

Kerr returned to the fray and played down the scare as a knock to the “belly” of her calf, which paled in comparison to her disappointment.

The Matildas will campaign in Paris Olympic qualifiers in October and will build towards playing in a final in 2024.