England suffered a 3-0 defeat to defending champions Spain in the semi-finals of the U-17 Women’s World Cup.

Alba Cerrato returned from suspension to lead two-time world champions Spain, who defeated England 4-0 in the European Under-17 final in May just before half-time.

Pau Comendador scored her fifth goal of the competition, moving ahead in the race for the Golden Boot, while England’s Zara Shaw scored an own goal as Spain easily advanced to Sunday’s final in the Dominican Republic.

England have reached the semi-finals twice in three appearances (they finished fourth in 2008) and have a chance to improve on that when they face the United States in the third-place playoff at 19:30 GMT on Sunday.

“I’m full of pride,” said England coach Natalie Henderson.

“The girls tried very well, that’s all we asked of them at the beginning. We promised each other that we were going to do our best and I think we did.”

Spain will face North Korea, who beat England 4-0 in the group stage, at 23:00 GMT on Sunday as they bid to win the World Cup for the third time.