Dreams of a historic three-peat disappeared this morning as the US crashed out of the World Cup in the Round of 16 after losing 5-4 on penalties in their earliest-ever exit.
The day almost went another way, as the US played their best game of the tournament so far after disappointing ties with Portugal and the Netherlands, with only a single win against Vietnam in the group stage. But when the dramatic shootout went to sudden death, American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher missed saving Lina Hurtig's conversion by inches — in fact, VAR was required for the final decision.
Alyssa Naeher nearly kept it out 🧤 pic.twitter.com/DjpatlgCKD
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 6, 2023
"We just lost the World Cup by a millimeter," Naeher said afterwards, "That's tough."
Andi Sullivan and Lindsey Horan for the US, and Fridolina Rolfo and Elin Rubensson for Sweden, all made their attempts in Rounds 1 and 2, as did Kristie Mewis to give the US a lead in Round 3 when Sweden's Nathalie Bjorn missed. Megan Rapinoe also missed her penalty, but Naeher saved the following attempt. Sophia Smith could've won the day for the US but missed, and Hanna Benison found the net to send the shootout into sudden death. Naeher then scored for the US, as did Magdalena Eriksson for Sweden, but then Kelley O'Hara clipped the post and it came down to Lina Hurtig's fateful attempt.
And then Sweden was through to the quarterfinals, where they will face Japan, and the USWNT faced its worst World Cup defeat in history — they had previously never finished lower than third. They had also never scored fewer than 12 goals at a World Cup; at this tournament they scored only four.
The loss is especially poignant for Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz, both of whom are retiring from the USWNT.
The other quarterfinal set so far will see Spain play the Netherlands after the latter defeated South Africa 2-0.
