Tokyo, Japan - Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd each struck doubles as the United States salvaged bronze at the Tokyo Games with a 4-3 victory over Australia at the Ibaraki Kashima Stadium on Thursday.

The US arrived in Japan having won the last two women's World Cups and trying to regain the Olympic gold they held from 2004 to 2012, but an inconsistent campaign saw them exit in the semi-finals.

Against Australia, they showed their old verve once more to secure third place, even if they were aided by comical defending.

Rapinoe opened the scoring when her eighth minute corner swung over the head of Australian goalkeeper Teagen Micah. Defender Alanna Kennedy's sliced clearance set up her second, a thumping volley in the 21st minute.

In between, Sam Kerr levelled against the run of play with a weak shot that Adrianna French contrived to let in at the near post.

The highly decorated 39-year-old veteran Lloyd collected a pass from Lindsey Horan to fire home emphatically before the break, and she capitalized on a poor back header from the floundering Kennedy to make it 4-1 soon after the restart.

Australia refused to give up, as Caitlin Foord immediately cut the deficit and Kerr sent a header onto the inside of the post.

Rapinoe and Lloyd were both subbed off as the US saw things out with an unstoppable long-range drive from Emily Gielnik in the last minute.

It was only a consolation for Australia, who remain without an Olympic medal from their four times participating at the Games.

"It is something that is truly, truly special, to be standing on the podium, whatever level you're on. It's just remarkable." said Lloyd. "I'm really proud of the resilience of this team. The fight, the mentality that we came out with today, and the performance."

There soon may be a big departure from a number of Team USA's star players.

Lloyd is now contemplating retirement.

"I haven't made any official announcement yet, but obviously I am at the tail end of my career," she said.

"Physically I feel really good, but at some point I have to hang up the boots and live life and I know my husband is eagerly waiting for me to switch off because it's been 17 years of just grinding away," Lloyd added.

Fellow great Rapinoe is 36, meaning a period of transition is looming for a US team approaching an end of an era.

"It's amazing," said Rapinoe. "It's not necessarily what we wanted, we always have the standard of winning every game, winning every championship but this one means a lot, I'm so proud of the group how we responded today."

"Obviously we haven't played our best soccer through the tournament, it hasn't really clicked ... but we obviously wanted to end the tournament on a good note," she added.

Now, two teams are left competing for Olympic soccer gold in Tokyo. Sweden, 2016 silver medalists, will meet Canada, who took bronze in Rio, in Friday's final – with both chasing maiden gold in the event.

The final has been moved until an evening kick-off and will now be played in Yokohama rather than the Tokyo Olympic Stadium after the teams complained about the heat.