The reigning world champion USA was eliminated from the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand after a 4-5 defeat by Sweden on penalties in the Round of 16. The score after the regular 90 minutes and half an hour added time was 0-0, then it was down to penalty kicks. In them, the American women missed three times, while their European opponents did it only twice, which turned out to be decisive. The winning penalty was scored by Lina Hurtig, with her shot cleared, but VAR showed that the ball still crossed the goal line by no more than a centimeter.
Thus, the USA registered their first loss in the world finals in 21 matches. In the next round, the Scandinavian women will face Japan.
The clash in Melbourne between the world No 1 and No 3 lived up to expectations for drama. It was the Yankees who dominated most of the time and it was a real miracle they didn’t score. The team fired 11 shots into Zecira Musovic’s goal, while at the same time Sweden’s players only hit the opponent’s goal once. In the first half, the American women also hit the crossbar.
In the penalty shootout, everything started perfectly for both teams, who scored the first five shots in total. However, Nathalie Bjorn of Sweden missed the third shot for her team, which should have given the opponent an advantage. However, a mistake also followed the legend of Megan Rapinoe.
Then Rebecka Blomqvist was also inaccurate for the Scandinavians, which gave Sophia Smith a chance to put the USA ahead when she scored the fifth penalty kick. However, she also failed, and after her the opponent scored his fifth penalty.
It was the turn of the overshoot to a fault. There, on the seventh penalty for the American women, Kelley O’Hara hit the post.
In the end, a chance to put Sweden ahead came to Arsenal’s player Lina Hurtig, who did so despite her shot being deflected.
