The USA girls’s nationwide crew was knocked out of the Ladies’s World Cup after a 5-4 penalty shootout defeat to Sweden within the spherical of 16 on Sunday.
The U.S. entered the event because the reigning two-time champion however was bounced at its earliest stage ever, exiting by the narrowest of margins, with Lina Hurtig’s successful penalty barely crossing the road and requiring VAR to verify the purpose.
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Vlatko Andonovski’s facet made its means out of the group stage regardless of successful only one sport, and the People struggled once more as Sweden goalkeeper Zećira Mušović nullified their dominance with quite a few impressed saves to ship the sport to additional time tied 0-0.
Megan Rapinoe got here off the bench on 99 minutes instead of Alex Morgan, and the U.S. added much more stress on Sweden’s purpose, however couldn’t break the impasse, and the sport went to penalties.
The USWNT netted its first three spot kicks, however noticed makes an attempt from Rapinoe, Sophia Smith and Kelley O’Hara miss the goal earlier than Hurtig stepped up with an opportunity to win the match. USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher acquired a hand to Hurtig’s try and practically saved it out, however the ball looped towards the purpose, with a VAR test exhibiting it had crossed the road by a tiny margin.
The USWNT’s solely different penalty shootout defeat on the Ladies’s World Cup got here within the 2011 closing towards Japan.
