The golden Olympics dream for Australia’s Matildas was snuffed out by Sweden tonight in a typically gutsy, but heartbreaking 1-0 loss to one of the power teams of women’s football.

There was no Sam Kerr-inspired miracle for the Matildas but the gifted WA striker was denied a first-half goal when teammate Emily van Egmond appeared to be wrongly penalised for blocking in an Australian set piece off a free kick.

Already further into an Olympic campaign than ever before, the Matildas were rocked by a single goal scored by Swedish star Fridolina Rolfo, who hooked the ultimate decider into the net just after half-time.

It was a cruel blow for the Australians when a deflection landed in Rolfo’s lap after Matildas goalkeeper Teagan Micah had gone to ground on diving high to save an initial shot.

Sweden, silver medallists at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, were on the attack from the outset, but were unable to convert two early corner kicks.

They were more efficient going forward in the early minutes and it was only a tight and well-organised Matildas defence that kept them from scoring. That, plus the fact that a left-foot bullet from outside the box from Swedish star Fridolina Rolfo in the 23rd minute thundered into the crossbar, having beaten Australian keeper Teagan Micah.

The Matildas were earning more forward possession in the second half of the period, but their crosses into the box were often ill-directed or long. Still, they were creating enough opportunities to give them hope of an upset and a free kick from the top of the box taken by Alanna Kennedy almost evaded Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl’s outstretched left hand.

Kerr then narrowly missed deflecting the ball from her head into the net when it grazed the right post and as the seconds ticked towards the main break, Tameka Yallop was not far from the mark with a right-foot strike from distance.

Scores were tied at half-time, but play had not been resumed for a minute when Rolfo took advantage of an unravelled Matildas defence to hook a right-foot shot

But the Matildas far from gave up on their task, pressing relentlessly in the following few minutes without any result.

Steph Catley almost changed that before Lindahl made another strong two-handed save high to her right in the 74th minute.

The Matildas will now battle it out with soccer powerhouse the USA for bronze after the competition favourites were earlier shocked by Canada.

In more heartbreaking scenes, Aussie Ellie Carpenter was slapped with a red card in the dying seconds of the match against Sweden and won’t feature in that bronze medal match.