At least the England Women’s National Team can say it’s the champs of Europe.

The English women rebounded from a heartbreaking loss in the semifinals to defeat Germany 1-0 in overtime and claim third in the World Cup.

It was England’s first win against Germany and its highest-ever finish in the World Cup.

The result was especially satisfying considering how England ended up in the third place game in the first place. An own goal in stoppage time in the semifinals against Japan broke a 1-1 tie and derailed what was a fairly dominant English effort.

No one would have blamed England if it had come out flat and uninspired against Germany, but it did just the opposite and gave the Germans all they could handle for 120 minutes.

“We said before the game, we said, life’s horrible, it’s really tough sometimes. You get a kick in the teeth just when you think you’ve made it and wow, we got a big kick in the teeth in that semifinal,” England coach mark Sampson said. “But we wanted to show the world today that, look, everyone has tough times but dust yourselves down, pick yourselves back up and go again.”

While both teams had several chances for goals, it wasn’t until a penalty kick in 108th minute that the scoreless tie was broken. Germany defender Tabea Kemme hooked and pulled English forward Lianne Sanderson down in the penalty box and Fara Williams slotted home the penalty kick, her third goal from the penalty spot this tournament.

“We deserved that,” Sampson said. “We’ve come to this tournament and every game we’ve played we’ve been there fighting away. We played three of the top nations in the world — France, Japan, Germany. This team is incredible, just incredible.”

Germany, the No. 1 team in the world, finished its World Cup going scoreless in its final two games after scoring 20 goals in its previous five contests.

Short of an amazing performance by a Japanese or U.S. player during the World Cup final on Sunday, German forward Celia Sasic will win the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals.

Germany will have a chance to redeem itself during the Olympics in Rio next year, but unfortunately, it will not have an opportunity to avenge the loss against England. Great Britain soccer will not take part in the Olympics after the football associations of the nations that make up Great Britain failed to back a squad that would include players from throughout Great Britain. During the London Olympics in 2012, the women’s team was mostly comprised of English players, but did have two players from Scotland.

So England will probably savor the bronze medal just a little bit more knowing that the next time it appears on a world stage, it likely will be in defense of that title.

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