After only narrowly scraping through to the last 16 via a draw against the unfancied Portugal, the USWNT immediately set about silencing their critics and controlled much of the early possession.
Shortly after the quarter-hour mark, Trinity Rodman came close to giving the Americans a precious lead, as she charged towards goal before unleashing a strike from the edge of the box. Sadly for her, she could only sting the palms of Swedish stopper Zeira Musovic.
The reigning champions didn’t let up though, as they continued to search for an opener, and had the best chance of the first half after 34 minutes. A corner was swung into the box from the right-hand side towards Lindsey Horan, but the American skipper saw her header rattle the top of the crossbar before going out for a goal kick.
Sweden heeded that warning well and held firm up until half time, duly giving the USWNT their fourth first-half blank in five outings.
With the USA boasting an impressive 100% record across their opening knockout fixtures prior to kick off, it came as little surprise that the start of the second half went much like the first, and there was another key flashpoint after 53 minutes, when Horan fizzed an effort towards goal, only to be denied by a superb stop from Musovic.
The USWNT continued to probe at the Sweden defence and nearly grabbed a winner in the dying moments when Alex Morgan got on the end of a cross to head towards the bottom corner. Yet again though, a fine save from Musovic kept the score even to send the game to extra time.
American pressure didn’t let up, and this time it was Lynn Williams who went close; she drilled an effort across goal towards the bottom corner, but once again Musovic was on hand to make the save.
The second half of extra-time followed the same pattern, as Sweden looked determined to ride out the storm and take the reigning champions to a penalty shootout.
The eventual shootout had a feeling of inevitability about it, and the score was 4-4 after 13 penalties, with Lina Hurtig stepping up for Sweden to take the decisive spot kick. In bizarre fashion, it was saved by Alyssa Naeher, only for VAR to point out that the ball had in fact crossed the line.
That saw the Scandinavians advance to the last eight, and destroy the Americans’ hopes of being the first nation to win three straight WWC editions.
Flashscore Player of the Match: Zecira Musovic (Sweden)
