The United States ladies folks’s nationwide soccer crew had its needs of a 3-peat dashed Sunday morning, when a dramatic shootout resulted in the head-ranked crew’s elimination from the World Cup in a match towards Sweden that ended 6 to 5 and had its closing fair verified by a video-assisted referee.
USA gamers react as Sophia Smith of USA misses her crew’s fifth penalty within the penalty shoot out … [+] all the procedure by means of the FIFA Females’s World Cup Australia & Original Zealand 2023 Round of 16 match between Sweden and USA at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on August 6, 2023. Portray by Quinn Rooney
Getty Pictures
Key Facts
The Americans were knocked out of the World Cup on a penalty kick after finishing 0-0 in beyond popular time after which bouncing encourage and forth all the procedure by means of kicks—U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher managed to first block the shot of Sweden’s Lina Hurtig, nonetheless it indubitably crossed encourage over the fair line and she couldn’t achieve it aside again.
Swedish goalkeeper Zecira Musovic made 11 saves to preserve her crew within the match sooner than the shootout, and Sweden’s Nathalie Björn and U.S. superstar Megan Rapinoe both neglected their penalty kicks sooner than the enact.
It’s the worst-ever World Cup exit sooner than the semi-finals for the U.S. crew, who won the final two competitions in 2015 and 2019, and were regarded as solid contenders to get the match again this year.
Tangent
The Americans finished 2d in Group E within the neighborhood stages to construct it to the Round of 16—the U.S. first beat Vietnam 3-0, then drew the Netherlands 1-1 and Portugal 0-0 within the neighborhood stage.
Major Quote
“It is per chance my final sport ever being in a put to private the honor to wear this crest,” mentioned Julie Ertz, 31, who has been on the U.S. nationwide crew since 2013.
Julie Ertz of the US reacts after loosing all the procedure by means of the FIFA Females’s World Cup Australia & … [+] Original Zealand 2023 Round of 16 match between Sweden and the US on August 6, 2023. Portray by Brad Smith
Getty Pictures for USSF
Key Background
The U.S. crew has won the FIFA Females’s World Cup bigger than any assorted nation, with four whole victories. 9 gamers on this year’s nationwide crew were on the 2019 championship crew, and five were on the 2015 crew, including Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Julie Ertz. Rapinoe mentioned earlier this summer season that she would retire on the tip of this season. The U.S. has held the No. 1 web web page in FIFA’s ranking for years and the Americans were the odds-on well-liked to get again, nonetheless lots of teams were regarded as contenders for the title, including England, Spain and France—all of whom are tranquil within the match. No nation has ever won three consecutive males’s or ladies folks’s World Cups.
Top Truth
Two of the U.S. nationwide crew games broke data for ladies folks’s FIFA World Cup viewership. The match towards the Netherlands on July 26 modified into watched by 6.4 million Americans, making it per chance the most-watched ever in a community stage. The July 21 get over Vietnam modified into watched by 5.3 million folks within the U.S. and is the third most-viewed community stage sport in Females’s World Cup historical previous within the encourage of the 2019 U.S. sport towards Chile in 2d achieve of living.
Megan Rapinoe of USA is dejected after their crew modified into defeated within the FIFA Females’s World Cup. Portray … [+] by Alex Grimm
FIFA by means of Getty Pictures
Big Number
Third. That’s the highest-ranking FIFA crew tranquil left within the opponents. USA is ranked first and the 2d-ranked crew, Germany, modified into eradicated earlier this week after a scheme towards South Korea. Sweden is ranked third, followed by England in fourth and France in fifth.
What To Watch For
Who will rob dwelling the title. England will play Nigeria Monday for of challenge to compete towards the winner of a Colombia-Jamaica matchup scheduled for Tuesday. Host nation Australia will play Denmark Monday and the winner of that match will face the winner of the France-Morocco sport, additionally scheduled for Tuesday. Spain and the Netherlands will compete in a quarter-closing match Thursday and the winner will compete towards both Japan or Sweden, that will play every assorted Friday.
