{"id":36651,"date":"2023-08-06T14:59:34","date_gmt":"2023-08-06T14:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=36651"},"modified":"2026-07-10T02:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:43:19","slug":"womens-world-cup-usa-lose-to-sweden-on-penalties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2023\/08\/06\/womens-world-cup-usa-lose-to-sweden-on-penalties\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s World Cup: USA lose to Sweden on penalties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The United States played its best game of this\u00a0Women\u2019s World Cup<\/strong>\u00a0and it\u2019s wasn\u2019t good enough to stop the two-time reigning champions from being eliminated from\u00a0the tournament.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Americans\u2019 bid to win an unprecedented third consecutive title ended Sunday on penalty kicks. Megan Rapinoe and Sophia Smith missed penalties that could have given the United States the win, and Kelley O\u2019Hara missed the Americans\u2019 final shot to give Sweden the opening it needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lina Hurtig converted and Sweden knocked the United States out of the World Cup 5-4 after a scoreless draw in regulation and extra time. The Americans controlled the shootout until the trio of misses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the earliest exit in tournament history for the United States, four-time winners of the World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, this is like a sick joke. For me personally, this is like dark comedy that I missed a penalty,\u201d Rapinoe said as she blinked back tears. \u201cThis is the balance to the beautiful side of the game. I think it can be cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher fruitlessly argued she had saved Hurtig\u2019s attempt, but it was ruled over the line. The stadium played Abba\u2019s \u201cDancing Queen\u201d in the stadium as the Swedes celebrated and the U.S. players sobbed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just lost the World Cup by a millimeter. That\u2019s tough,\u201d said Naeher, who successfully converted her own penalty kick. \u201cI am proud of the fight of the team. We knew we hadn\u2019t done our best in the group stage and we wanted a complete team performance and the team came out and played great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She praised Sweden goalkeeper Zecira Musovic, who had 11 saves to eliminate the United States in the round of 16 for the first time in team history. The American\u2019s worst finish had been third place, three different times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t put anything in the back of the net,\u201d sobbed Julie Ertz after the loss. \u201cThe penalties were tough. It\u2019s just emotional because it\u2019s probably my last game ever. It\u2019s just tough. It\u2019s an emotional time. It obviously sucks. Penalties are the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The loss was somewhat expected based on the Americans\u2019listless play through three group stage matches. But they played their best game of this World Cup against Sweden, only to have it decided by penalties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am proud of the women on the field,\u201d said U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski. \u201cI know we were criticized for the way we played, and for different moments in the group stage. I think we came out today and showed the grit, the resilience, the fight. The bravery showed we did everything we could to win the game. And, unfortunately, soccer can be cruel sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the was the fourth time the Americans went to extra time at the World Cup. All three previous matches went to penalties, including the 2011 final won by Japan. The U.S. won on penalties in a 2011 quarterfinal match against Brazil, and in the 1999 final at the final at the Rose Bowl against China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden knocked the United States out of the 2016 Olympics in the quarterfinals on penalties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden goes on to the quarterfinals to play Japan, the 2011 World Cup winner, which defeated Norway 3-1 on Saturday night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden has never won a major international tournament, either the World Cup or the Olympics. The closest the team has come is World Cup runner-up in 2003. They finished in third in the 1999, 2011 and 2019 editions, and won silver medals in the last two Olympics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result ended the international career of Rapinoe, the Golden Boot winner of the 2019 tournament who is retiring after the World Cup.<\/strong> She had taken on a smaller role for the Americans in her final tournament and was a substitute in the United States\u2019 first and third games of group play, and didn\u2019t get off the bench in the middle match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She came on in extra time against Sweden and in her final game and few minutes of action, she failed to control a ball played in deep, whiffed on a rebound, hit the side of the net with a corner and then missed the penalty that would have won the game for the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust devastated. It feels like a bad dream,\u201d said captain Alex Morgan. \u201cThe team put everything out there tonight, I feel like we dominated, but it doesn\u2019t matter. We\u2019re going home and it\u2019s the highs and lows of the sport of soccer. So, yeah, it doesn\u2019t feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Americans struggled through group play with just four goals in three matches. They were nearly eliminated last Tuesday by first-timers Portugal, but eked out a 0-0 draw<\/strong> to fall to second in their group for just the second time at a World Cup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Americans looked far better against Sweden, dominating possession and outshooting the Swedes 5-1 in the first half alone. Lindsey Horan\u2019s first-half header hit the crossbar and a second-half blast was saved by goalkeeper Musovic, who had six saves in regulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden won all three of their group games, including a 5-0 rout of Italy in its final group match.<\/strong> Coach Peter Gerhardsson made nine lineup changes for the match, resting his starters in anticipation of the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey will come back for sure, they have so much quality on their team,\u201d Sweden midfielder Kosovare Asllani said after the match. \u201cThis defeat will not take them down. I expect them to be ready for the next World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was tense from the opening whistle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naeher punched the ball away from a crowded goal on an early Sweden corner kick. Three of the Swedes\u2019 goals against Italy came on set pieces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trinity Rodman\u2019s shot from distance in the 18th minute was easily caught by Musovic, who stopped another chance by Rodman in the 27th. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horan\u2019s header off Andi Sullivan\u2019s corner in the 34th hit the crossbar and skipped over the goal. Horan was on target in the 53rd minute but Musovic dove to push it wide. Horan crouched to the field in frustration while Musovic was swarmed by her teammates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States played its best game of this\u00a0Women\u2019s World Cup\u00a0and it\u2019s wasn\u2019t good enough to stop the two-time reigning champions from being eliminated from\u00a0the tournament. The Americans\u2019 bid to win an unprecedented third consecutive title ended Sunday on penalty kicks. Megan Rapinoe and Sophia Smith missed penalties that could have given the United States the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":36653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[2363,8952,13071,2422,8924,8908,10239,746,5247,7090,803,10954,1392,2959,10634,8126,1620,7968,1379,1707,8874,13256,1975,5278,3927,6687,11259,9253,10416,1378,7419,1218,9262,3954,12851,5320,10392,36,5248,594],"class_list":["post-36651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-alex-morgan","tag-blast","tag-bravery","tag-brazil","tag-chance","tag-coach","tag-comedy","tag-feel","tag-football","tag-games","tag-goalkeeper","tag-international","tag-italy","tag-japan","tag-lost","tag-match","tag-megan","tag-nine","tag-norway","tag-olympics","tag-penalties","tag-players","tag-portugal","tag-quality","tag-queen","tag-runner","tag-shot","tag-sick","tag-soccer","tag-sweden","tag-the-game","tag-trinity","tag-united-states","tag-will","tag-winners","tag-women","tag-womens-world-cup","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36654,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36651\/revisions\/36654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}