PORTLAND, Ore. -- Fifteen minutes from glory. Fifteen minutes from a dream they weren't supposed to dare dream until 2007. Fifteen minutes from the World Cup final.

"Yeah, but we didn't win," said Kara Lang, the 'mourning' after Canada's 2-1 loss to Sweden in the Women's World Cup soccer semifinal.

"We're all aware of what we've done and how far we've come and we're all proud of what we've done. But to come that close, to be 15 minutes from the final is really disappointing. It's difficult today."

It was 16-year-old Lang, from Oakville, Ont., who blasted one from 90 feet away on a free kick to give Canada the 1-0 go-ahead goal against Sweden Sunday night.

"We were so very close, so damn close,'' said 20-year-old Christine Sinclair of Burnaby, B.C. "Ever since Kara scored, that was the longest 15 minutes of my life. We were so close. That's what makes it so hard to swallow. There's just such a shock of what could have been.''

Sweden scored two before the 15 minutes ticked off as Canada's bubble burst.

Twenty-two-year-old Calgary keeper Taryn Swiatek wasn't at fault on either goal. She knows what happened better than anyone.

"They caught us sleeping twice. You can't afford to fall asleep in the semifinal of the World Cup.''

NEED TO TURN THE PAGE

But she got out of the bed in the morning already prepared to turn the page and move on to the bronze-medal game.

"I'm sad. But I'm not sad. How can you look at it as anything but a positive accomplishment? And now we get to play the USA. I'm already looking forward to that game.

"Even Pellerud talked to us on the bus from the park to the hotel. He told us to be proud of ourselves. There were tears. A few. But I watched the Americans' reaction after they lost to Germany. They had way more tears than we did. We weren't like that.''

Pellerud took his team right back out to practise here yesterday. He'll give them the next two days off to let them put this game behind them and proceed to the opportunity that awaits them against Mia Hamm and the defending World Cup champions Saturday in Carson, California.

"It would be worse, I think, if I felt it was unfair or felt we were the better team,'' said coach Pellerud.

"It's a little bit of a sad feeling. But I don't have any trouble accepting we're in the bronze-medal final. We have achieved what we desired on the field. I don't think we are one of the top two teams here, but I think we have proved, and hopefully will prove one more time, that we belong in the top four. It's proof of our progress.

"We've missed injured players like Candace Chapman and Breanna Boyd. If they'd have been here, we might be in the final. But they were injured and we've had three more injuries in the back.''

It was Silvana Burtini's injury in this one that forced Pellerud to move Brittany Timko back and ... but that's spilled milk.

"It's experience,'' he said. "Look at the USA and Germany and their great game. What a game that was. They are two older teams with a lot of experience.

"But I have to look at the experience we've gained. The level of confidence is going to keep going up. They know what they can do. They've done it. You can't take it away from these players.

"Look what I've learned about my team. I've learned who to trust going to war and who fades away. I've learned who can come from the bench and who can't.

"We're like a plane. This is takeoff. We've still got a lot of flight left with this team.''

For the Americans, who have only lost two World Cup games in the four tournaments held so far, it's going to be tough to play in the bronze-medal game. It's like a Canadian hockey team going for the gold at the Olympics and ending up in the bronze-medal game.

IT'S DIFFERENT FOR CANADA

For Canada it's different. The Americans themselves represent a prize.

"It's important to look forward to that game and I'm sure we will,'' said Pellerud. "It's hard to talk about that today. We need a couple more days.''

Maybe only a couple of hours, coach.

"If we were in the final, we'd want it to be against the U.S.,'' said Lang. "It's not the final. But it's still the U.S.''

Sinclair, who missed all summer with mononucleosis and has had to deal with the sickness of her mother and the death of her college coach, says she's sure she'll collapse, physically and mentally when this is over. But not now.

"We get to play the USA for a medal at the World Cup. This might be the last time we get to play Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett,'' she said of Americans who have announced they will retire after next year's Olympics.

"They are a team we should be thanking. Many of us wouldn't be here without them. Women's soccer wouldn't have become what it has become without them. It's going to be sad to see those careers end.''

As a core group, Sinclair, Lang and the gang are where Mia and mates were back in 1991. And now they will play them at the end of their era in the World Cup.

It wasn't over when Canada lost to Sweden. It's still the beginning.