Holders United States suffer historic last-16 exit after shoot-out loss to Sweden

MELBOURNE – Sweden beat the United States 5-4 on penalties to condemn the defending champions to their earliest Women’s World Cup exit on Sunday, after the teams were locked at 0-0 at the end of extra time.

Lina Hurtig struck the winning spot kick at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium to cap a madcap shoot-out in the last-16 clash, though US goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher parried the ball on the line and the result needed to be confirmed by the video assistant referee.

“She saves it but I get a hell of a backspin on it and don’t see if it goes in but my first reaction is that it’s in,” the substitute told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

The Swedish players admitted they endured a nervous wait.

“I told Sofia (Jakobsson) that I couldn’t bear to watch. I had my forehead on her shoulder,” forward Fridolina Rolfo said.

“But she said I had to watch. And then it becomes so special, with an eternal wait for the announcement.”

Sweden head into a quarter-final against Japan in Auckland on Friday but it was the first exit before the semi-finals in nine World Cups for the Americans, who were bidding for an unprecedented third consecutive title.

Gloomy US coach Vlatko Andonovski was not convinced Hurtig’s spot kick had crossed the line.

“It’s a tough moment, a moment where it’s hard to go through,” he said. “You have hopes that the ball didn’t cross the line. That just shows how cruel this game can be.”

Sweden’s Magdalena Eriksson said her team had shown heart if not their best game, having been dominated for much of the match.

“We’re so happy right now,” she said in a radio interview. “I don’t know how we managed to stay in this game.

“We didn’t play our best game, but in some way we showed we’re hard-headed, we showed heart, we never give up. We took it to extra-time, we took it to penalties and we managed to win.”

Young US forward Sophia Smith was left shattered, having had a chance to win the match for the four-time champions when she stepped up in the penalty shoot-out only to blast the ball over the bar.

She was not the first player in her team to miss.

The talismanic Megan Rapinoe, renowned for her peerless record in shoot-outs, thumped the US’ fourth kick over the bar after Sweden’s Nathalie Bjorn also fired their third attempt high.

“This is like a sick joke. For me personally, I’m just like, this is dark comedy. I missed a penalty,” Rapinoe, who won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball at the last edition in 2019, told Fox Sports. “I think it can be cruel and just not our day.”

US co-captain Lindsey Horan was more sanguine, saying: “I think we played beautiful football today. We created chances but didn’t score. Penalties suck, they are cruel. I am proud of every player who stepped up today, it is courage to take one. Being able to come out of group stage where we didn’t perform our best and coming out today (and performing well).”

Andonovski said the US had been practising penalties for the last nine months.

“I know we were criticised for the way we played... I think we came out today and were all about the grit, the resilience,” he said.

Goalkeeper Zecira Musovic was Sweden’s hero, having made 11 saves before the shoot-out to keep them in the match.

She said: “I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know what to say except that I am extremely proud that we persevered against an extremely strong US that pressed for 120 minutes. We’re not going home yet.”

Often starved of possession, the Swedes did not have a shot on goal until the 85th minute when substitute Jakobsson danced into the area, only to shoot straight at Naeher.

Naeher saved Rebecka Blomqvist’s fourth shot for the Swedes in the shoot-out but Smith’s miss kept the Scandinavians in it.

After Naeher and Eriksson converted their spot kicks, Kelley O’Hara sent her effort pinging off the right post, allowing Hurtig to step up and send the four-time champions out of the tournament.

The US will wonder how the match had to go to a shoot-out, having dominated the play and unleashed 21 shots, including 11 on target.

Trinity Rodman proved a menace down the right wing early, testing the Swedish goalkeeper twice in the first half-hour.

Horan thumped a header against the bar and Musovic denied her again with a low dive when she fired a deflected cross at the far post.

Musovic produced another wonderful save to stop an Alex Morgan header and see the Swedes into extra time, then foiled a Lynn Williams shot in the first period.

Rapinoe came on to replace Morgan in extra time but could not conjure the magic that helped the US to back-to-back World Cup triumphs in Canada in 2015 and France four years ago. REUTERS, AFP