Post match quotes

U.S. head coach Mark Krikorian

We put a game plan together and I thought the players executed it perfectly. Our defending was solid and our goalkeeper was magnificent. In the attack, we went at them a lot of different ways and were able to possess the ball against a very good Brazilian team. I am very proud of the effort the team put into today.

We do not talk about not getting yellow cards (just two yellow cards in the tournament, one for playing after an offside whistle and one for delay of game) but we talk about playing hard and playing fair and competing within the spirit of the game. We also think the style that you play is important. It is a beautiful game if you allow it to be and I think our players have during this tournament.

All of us from the United States are thrilled to have been in Thailand. The hospitality that has been extended to us has been first class. The places where we have stayed and visited, as well as the attitude of everyone we encountered, has been magnificent. We are very thankful for that and we want to make sure all the folks here in Thailand know that we appreciate the kindness and generosity extended to us. FIFA did a great job of selecting Thailand to host this world championship and I am sure there is no one in the American team who would not want to come back.

Megan Rapinoe

After the Germany game, no one on the whole team had a dry eye. It was a really hard loss. We wanted to get in the finals and that was our goal the whole time, but we just got together and realized that we had one more game together as a team, as friends and as sisters, and we need to take advantage of that. We need to come out and play like this was our championship game. We didn't want to end on two losses. We wanted to play the best we could in our last game together, our farewell game.

Angie Woznuk, who won the Silver Ball as the second Most Outstanding Player in the tournament, and the Bronze Shoe as the competition's third leading scorer.

I think it is unbelievable that our team was able to rebound from that loss because we definitely expected to win this tournament. That's what we came here to do. It was really good to see us all coming together, play as a team and act like this was the championship game. We got to play Brazil. How often do you get to play Marta and Cristiane and measure yourself against them? So, it was a really good challenge and everyone played awesome. 

Controlling the tempo was the biggest key. We did not want to get caught up in their game, chasing them all around. As far as attacking, we just had to pick the right times to go forward.

U.S. captain Ashlyn Harris

It is a great experience. This is my second time going through a world championship, so being an older player, one of my main goals was to look out for the young players and make this experience as good a possible for them. I think the veteran players accomplished that.

We came out wanting to win this tournament, but found ourselves in the third-fourth place game. I think it showed a lot of pride for us to come out and play against a great team like Brazil. I have some great players in front of me and it made my job easy.

We have a great tradition in the United States that every time we step on the field, we want to win. Yes, we did lose, and it was a tough loss, and we would like to be in the Final, but it is all how you bounce back and our girls did a great job. It shows maturity and it shows pride, that no matter whether the game is for third or the championship, we are going to go out and give it our all.

It has been an unreal experience in Thailand. Everyone has treated us so well and has been so kind. All the fans and the FIFA organizers have been great, so we definitely want to thank the fans who came out to cheer for us and all the staff who put in so much work behind the scenes. It has been great.

Rachel Buehler

We faced some of the greatest dribblers and offensive players in the world tonight and it was all about our team defending. Cover for each other and re-cover after we got beat. It was all about working together.

Stephanie Logterman

The final word on the match is that it was very tiring, but it was fun.