Steph Houghton proud despite defeat

England captain Steph Houghton has revealed the pride she has in her teammates following their dramatic 2-1 defeat to Japan in the World Cup semi-finals.

A Laura Bassett own goal in stoppage time decided the match after England had come close to taking the lead on a number of occasions in the second half, but Houghton was quick to praise the team as they now turn their focus to Saturday's third-place playoff against Germany.

"I have no words to describe it, the only thing I have to say is that I am so proud of all the girls and staff. We've had an amazing journey but that's football, it can be cruel sometimes but we have to try and pick ourselves up and play Germany on Saturday," the skipper told BBC Sport.

"These are a bunch of girls that give everything for the jersey and are great people. We want to take that into the game on Saturday. We have tried to perform and get to the World Cup final that we wanted, but it just wasn't to be today."

Japan will meet the USA on Sunday in a repeat of the 2011 final.