USWNT eliminated from World Cup by Sweden in heartbreaking finish
On a Sunday night in Melbourne, in the middle of a Stockholm afternoon and with the sun rising over the East Coast of the United States, Sweden’s national women’s soccer team went and delivered a result to shake up the world.
Lina Hurtig delivered the winner in penalty kicks on a shot that came off Alyssa Naeher’s hands and barely crossed the line before the keeper swiped it away again.
After the goal was confirmed by technology showing the ball went in by all of a millimeter, the Swedish team ran to the corner in jubilation, a 5-4 win on penalties in hand after a scoreless 120 minutes.
The stalwarts of the U.S. Women’s National Team that has for so long dominated the sport looked around in disbelief.
They hugged each other, some cried and Megan Rapinoe wore a smile of disbelief. This was a game, and a shootout, that gave way to such emotion.
“It feels like a bad dream,” Alex Morgan said on Fox.
After both sides made their first two penalties, things gave way to insanity.
Nathalie Bjorn hit one high. Then, Rapinoe did the same.
Rebecka Blomqvist’s attempt was saved by Naeher and then Sophia Smith, with a chance to win it, missed the net entirely.
Needing to score to keep the game alive, Sweden’s Hanna Bennison did just that. USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski then stepped up the insanity by having Naeher take a penalty, which she made.
Kelley O’Hara, one of the stalwarts of the U.S.’ World Cup success, will wear the cruelest moment of this game, hitting her penalty off the right post after coming on in the 119th minute for the express purpose of taking one. That allowed Hurtig to go and bounce the United States from the tournament two weeks ahead of schedule.
For the first time in the 32-year history of the Women’s World Cup, the U.S. is out before the quarterfinal.
“It’s probably my last game ever having the honor to wear this crest,” defender Julie Ertz told Fox through tears after the game. “It’s just tough. I feel like [it’s an] an emotional time. So it absolutely sucks.
“Penalties are the worst.”
The USWNT looked vulnerable through its first three games of the World Cup, but finally looked like itself Sunday. That wasn’t enough to fend off a physical and unrelenting group of Swedes, who ensured the sport will have a different champion for the first time since 2011.
“I think we came out today and showed what we’re all about,” Andonovski said on Fox. “Showed the grit, the resilience, the fight, the bravery — they showed everything that we could to win this game.
“Unfortunately, soccer can be cruel sometimes.”
Through 120 minutes of nervy, tense soccer, Sweden played a conservative game — notching just one shot on goal as the Americans found themselves on the front foot for the first time this World Cup.
It seemed at times that Sweden was playing for penalties. Finally, it got just that and eked out a win by literal millimeters, earning the right to face Japan on Friday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. joins a list of teams that failed to win a third-straight World Cup that includes the 2011 German women’s team, the 1966 Brazilian men’s team and the 1950 Italian men’s team.
No country has pulled off the feat.
Swedish keeper Zecira Musovic played hero throughout the 120 minutes of regulation, stopping all 11 shots she saw, including a series of spectacular late saves.
Those included a heart-in-mouth dive to deny Lynn Williams in the 101st minute, a sure winner off the head of Alex Morgan in the 89th minute and another diving stop on Horan in the 53rd.
With Rose Lavelle suspended, the U.S. finally changed its starting 11 and formation using a 4-2-3-1 with Andi Sullivan and Emily Sonnett as defensive midfield pivots.
That unlocked the U.S., which played more confident in attack than it did throughout the group stage and was unlucky to go scoreless in regulation.
Still, after a second failure in as many major international tournaments — Andonovski also coached the U.S. to a disappointing bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics — it would be a shock if he was retained.
And the operative stat of the tournament, a 238-minute goal drought with Horan’s tally against the Netherlands being the last of the World Cup, will fall on his head.
Asked about his future immediately after the match, Andonovski deflected by saying he expects a young USWNT to “dominate” the next World Cup.
“This team has got a very bright future,” he said.
More certain than the coach’s fate is that Sunday will be the last time that a number of players who defined a generation of women’s soccer suit up for the U.S. in a World Cup.
Rapinoe has already announced she’ll retire at the end of this club season. Morgan and O’Hara are both 34. Ertz and Crystal Dunn are both 31. There is a long road between now and 2027, but suffice to say that a USWNT that was firmly between eras in 2023 will be in a new one four years from now.
The quest for a three-peat is over. And so is this era of women’s soccer.
