Cullen was hurt after being hit by a raised free-hit

Kaori Chiba scored in the 41st minute after a quickly-taken long corner and Sakae Morimoto drove into the circle to add the second in the 62nd minute.

Japan keeper Ikuko Okamura made three saves from Olton's Lucilla Wright and also denied Leicester's Christa Cullen.

To complete England's misery, Cullen was forced off injured late on.

England coach Danny Kerry praised Japan, saying: "They deserved their win. They definitely worked with a tenacity and intensity that we couldn't break down and took their chances clinically.

We have still finished at least one place above our world ranking Danny Kerry England coach

"We played really well for the first 15 to 20 minutes and a couple of things didn't go our way with penalty corners, and at this level those are the breaks you need.

"We had pressure on them for most of the match apart from 10 minutes or so just after half-time and the majority of the game was played in their final third."

England, who are ranked ninth in the world, now play a match for seventh place against Olympic gold medallists Germany after their 1-0 defeat by the USA.

"We've got some hard work to do but we have still finished at least one place above our world ranking."

Australia clinched a place in the final with a dramatic golden goal from Suzie Faulkner that earned them a 1-0 extra-time victory over hosts Spain.

Faulkner lunged out to get a touch on a penalty corner shot from Angie Skirving a minute after the start of extra time to earn a showdown with Holland.

Holland reached the final for the third time in a row after a comprehensive 3-1 victory over defending champions Argentina.

The Dutch got the better of the South Americans thanks to an opportunist goal from Sylvia Karres and strikes from Miek van Geenhuizen and Kim Lammers.

Maria Hernandez earned Argentina a late consolation when she fired past Lisanne de Roever five minutes from time.