The two-time defending champion USA side twice had penalties to win their round of 16 clash with Sweden but ended up botching both before crashing out of the tournament.
Megan Rapinoe, Sophia Smith and Kelly O’Hara missed with kicks from the penalty spot before Lina Hurtig converted to clinch the shootout 5-4 as Sweden knocked the United States out of the World Cup after a scoreless draw in regulation and extra time.
US goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher fruitlessly argued she had saved Hurtig’s attempt, but it was ruled over the line by VAR. The stadium played Abba’s Dancing Queen in the stadium as the Swedes celebrated and the US players sobbed.
“We just lost the World Cup by a millimetre. That’s tough,” said Naeher, who successfully converted her own penalty kick. “I am proud of the fight of the team. We knew we hadn’t done our best in the group stage and we wanted a complete team performance and the team came out and played great.”
“I mean, this is like a sick joke. For me personally, this is like dark comedy that I missed a penalty,” Rapinoe said as she blinked back tears. “This is the balance to the beautiful side of the game. I think it can be cruel.”
How the world reacted:
Team USA reels from historic loss
The USA Today’s Nancy Armour wrote “In truth, though, this end was months, years even, in the making. Trace it back to the injury in April of Mallory Swanson, who had single-handedly been carrying the team. Or the injury last year to Catarina Macario, whose wizardry with the ball is both breathtaking and, for opponents, backbreaking,” she wrote.
“Trace it all the way back to the Tokyo Olympics, when the USWNT first looked vulnerable. Old and slow. And beatable.”
‘Same recurring themes’
Fox TV analyst and USA great Carli Lloyd said after the game the shock result had been coming.
“It has just been kind of the same recurring themes: how are we creating chances, how are we finishing chances?” Lloyd said during post-match analysis. “It’s many years of this. I don’t think these tactical question marks that we’ve all had have sprung up this World Cup. So I think that there’s definitely some questions that need to be asked and a lot of evaluating.”
Need goals to win
Kevin Baxer of the LA Times said the VAR decision was not the losing of the game.
“But if the World Cup ended there for the U.S., that’s not where it was lost. It was lost when the U.S. failed to score in its final 238 minutes, the team’s longest-ever drought in a World Cup. It was lost when the U.S. failed to beat the Netherlands or Portugal, in two games it could have won. It was lost when a national team that had long played with joy, creativity and confidence became uncertain, predictable and indecisive.”
“As a result, the U.S. is out of the tournament short of the semifinals for the first time, an unfitting end for veterans Alex Morgan, Kelley O’Hara and Megan Rapinoe, who had gone to three straight World Cup finals.”
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