US falls to Sweden in penalty kicks and is eliminated from the World Cup

MELBOURNE, Australia — Nothing has come easy for the U.S. in this women’s World Cup, so it should be no surprise that the Americans’ tournament came down to a penalty-kick shootout with Sweden on Sunday, one they lost on the field and in the video-replay booth.

The teams battled through the regular 90 minutes and 30 minutes of extra time without finding a goal, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The U.S. outshot Sweden 22-9 and put 11 shots on goal to Sweden’s one. But it couldn’t get anything by Swedish keeper Zecira Musovic until the shootout.

With players from the two teams standing, arms over one another’s shoulders just yards apart in the enter circle, Andi Sullivan started off the shootout for the U.S. by drilling a low shot in at the left post. Fridolina Rolfo answered for Sweden. Lindsey Horan made it 2 for 2 for the U.S.; Elin Rubensson answered for Sweden.

Kristy Mewis, who came off the bench in the final minute of extra time, scored and Sweden’s Nathalie Bjorn pushed her shot over the goal, giving the U.S. an opening. Megan Rapinoe gave it back, though, by doing the same thing.

U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher gave the Americans back their edge, diving toward the right to save Flippa Angelgal’s shot and again the Americans failed to capitalize when Sophia Smith skied her subsequent try. Naeher than saved the U.S. from elimination, converting from the spot after Hanna Bennison put Sweden a save away from victory.

Madgalena Eriksson restored the lead, so when Kelley O’Hara pushed her shot off the post, Sweden’s Lina Hurtig won it with a low right-footed shot Naeher blocked but couldn’t keep from crossing the line. A video replay was needed to confirm the goal — and the Americans’ exit from the tournament in the most painful way possible.

The U.S. and Sweden have a history, having met seven times in World Cup play, with Sweden handing the Americans their last loss in the tournament during the 2011 group stage. That tournament also marked the last time the U.S. lost in a World Cup elimination game, falling to Japan during penalty kicks in the final.

During their past two Olympic meetings, Sweden eliminated the U.S. in the 2016 quarterfinals, then beat it in the opener of the Tokyo Games. This, however, this was their first meeting in the knockout stages of a World Cup and it featured drama.

With the U.S. lacking for rhythm and creativity in the group stage, coach Vlatko Andonovski had to change something, especially with midfielder Rose Lavelle unavailable after drawing yellow cards in the two previous matches.

So Andonovski switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation, isolating Alex Morgan as a lone striker up front and giving midfielder Emily Sonnett her first World Cup start — and first international start of any kind in more than a year.

The team responded, playing with new bite and urgency. In fact, the U.S. did everything but score a goal and for that you can credit Musovic, who had herself a night, making six saves in regulation time and five more in the two 15-minute extra-time periods, one a sprawling one-handed stop of a dangerous Lynn Williams shot and the other a block of a Sophia Smith shot at the near post.

The U.S. never stopped testing her, though. Horan banked a header off the crossbar in the 34th minute, then had another great chance early in the second half, but Musovic dove to her left and made an incredible save. In the 62nd minute, Smith broke into the box with no one but Musovic to beat, but her first touch was poor, giving the Swedish keeper time to rush off her line and break up the play, extending the U.S. scoreless streak to 180 minutes, the longest World Cup goal drought in team history.

It would grow longer as the night wore on.

Sweden, meanwhile, went deep into the second half without a shot on target — all three of its tries were blocked by U.S. defenders before they got through to Naeher, who faced just one shot in the three-game group stage.

With the U.S. tiring, Naeher finally got tested again in the 85th minute when Sofia Jakobsson, who had come on just three minutes earlier, uncorked a blistering left-footed try from the center of the box. But Naeher stood her ground, batting the shot down with both hands.

The U.S. did a good job closing on the ball defensively, denying the Swedes are room to operate. And offensively the Americans’ U.S. passing was much sharper, but things continued to fall apart in the final third, where too many crosses never found a target.

And the longer the U.S. kept Sweden in a game in which one goal would mean the difference between going home and advancing, the most dangerous its predicament became.

In the 88th minute, for example, the Swedes, who are particularly dangerous off set pieces had three chances off a corner kick but couldn’t get the ball through. Then when action shifted toward the other end, Musovic made another outstanding save, this time on a Morgan header that was going toward the bottom left corner until the Swiss keeper dove to her right and got just enough of her gloved hand on the ball to keep it out of the net.

What Andonovski didn’t do was use his bench, making just one substitution in the first 99 minutes. His second change came midway through the first extra period when he sent on Megan Rapinoe for Morgan. By then, Swedish coach Peter Gerhardsson had made three changes.

Unnoticed in all the drama was the fact Sunday’s crowd of 27,706 brought the total attendance for the tournament to 1.367 million, largest for a women’s World Cup in history. However, the average attendance of about 27,000 is just third-best all-time.