The defending champions USA suffered their earliest exit from the FIFA Women’s World Cup, losing by 5-4 on penalties against Sweden on Sunday in their round of 16 clash that initially ended in a goalless stalemate of 120 minutes, ending their dreams of completing a hat-trick of World Cups. During these 120 minutes, the USA was denied a final eight spot by the greatness of Sweden goalkeeper Zecira Musovic.
The clash was a heavyweight event that was not expected. Sweden had a perfect group stage while USA had an indifferent initial stage of the tournament, finishing at second position with a win and two draws. During these 120 minutes of gameplay, Sweden managed to register just one shot on target, while the USA struggled to put the ball past Musovic, who made some sensational saves to take the game to penalties.
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Andi Sullivan made it 1-0 for the USA. But Fridolina Rolfo scored an equaliser for Sweden. USA skipper Lindsey Horan restored the lead but Elin Rubbensson made it 2-2, keeping Sweden alive. Hopes for the USA increased when a shot by Kristen Mewis went into the goal but Sweden’s Gun Bjorn missed her shot and it sailed over the crossbar, taking the scoreline to 3-2 in favour of the USA. Megan Raphinoe for the USA and Rebecka Blomqivst of Sweden missed their respective next penalties.
However, Sophia Smith’s miss and a perfect conversion by Hanna Bennison restored Sweden’s hopes, making the scoreline 3-3. Alyssa Naeher took the sixth USA penalty and scored the goal, but Magdalena Errikson also scored to make the scores level at 4-4.
Kelley O’Hara missed USA’s penalty, but a goal from Lina Hurtig sent the whole Swedish camp into celebrations as they had defeated the world champions. Sweden will now face Japan in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Captain Horan said of the penalty shootout as quoted by Sky Sports: “It is part of the game. Penalties, to be frank, they suck. I have gone through too many in my career. I am proud of every player that stepped up to take a penalty today. Score or miss, it’s courageous to take a penalty. I am proud of the team.”
In the other round of 16 match, it was the Netherlands which triumphed over the South African side by 2-0. Jill Roord managed to score her fourth goal in the tournament to give the Netherlands an early advantage in the ninth minute. Her header sent a crowd of thousands of fans into cheers.
Later in the second half, thanks to a goalkeeping error from South Africa, Lineth Beerensteyn doubled the Dutch’s lead in the 68th minute and that proved to be the match-winning goal. Dutch will now take on Spain on Friday in the quarterfinals.
The 54th-ranked African champions fought hard in their first appearance in the World Cup knockout stage and were a threat, largely through their striker Thembi Kgatlana. But Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar neutralised this threat well and the 2019 finalists progressed to the last eight for the second successive tournament.
“I am very happy with a good win against a tough opponent. But the part of me that wants great football is disgruntled with the first half, where we gave the ball away too much,” said Netherlands coach Andries Jonker.
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