Never before had the United States women’s national soccer team failed to reach the semi-finals at the World Cup, until Sunday’s early exit
A changing of the guard in women’s football has finally arrived after the sport’s most dominant force, the United States, were dumped out of the World Cup by Sweden in a dramatic penalty shoot-out, ensuring the holders and record four-time champions suffered their earliest ever exit from the competition.
Megan Rapinoe, Sophia Smith and Kelley O’Hara all missed from the spot for the United States before Lina Hurtig saw her spot-kick cross the goal-line by scarcely a millimetre as Sweden won one of the greatest World Cup shoot-outs of all time 5-4, but despite US’s misfortune in Melbourne, their Round of 16 exit will mark a seismic moment for the women’s game after a disastrous campaign Down Under.
I have never seen a penalty go in like Hurtig’s. What a way for the US to go out. #SWEUSA pic.twitter.com/s1llBXsvex
The slight irony is, their elimination has come despite by far their best performance of this summer’s otherwise drab campaign. Against Olympic silver medallists Sweden, Vlatko Andonovski’s team were dominant but simply could not find a way past Zecira Musovic as the 120 minutes finished goalless. For US, though, the key damage was done earlier in the tournament, where their lacklustre performances saw them fail to win their group and therefore put them on a collision course with the resolute Swedes. And the statistics highlight just how rare this moment is in the history of the game.