MELBOURNE: Sweden beat the United States 5-4 on penalties in their round-of-16 clash to condemn the defending champions to their earliest Women’s World Cup exit on Sunday after the teams were locked at 0-0 at the end of extra time while the Netherlands set up a heavyweight quarter-final clash with Spain after ending South Africa’s historic run with a 2-0 victory.

Lina Hurtig struck the winning spot-kick at Melbourne Rectan­gular Stadium to cap a madcap shootout, though US goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher parried the ball on the line and the result needed to be confirmed by VAR.

Sweden head into a quarter-final against Japan in Auckland on Friday but it was the first exit before the semi-finals in nine World Cups for the Americans, who were bidding for an unprecedented third consecutive title.

Gloomy US coach Vlatko Ando­novski was not convinced Hurtig’s spot-kick had crossed the line.

“Its a tough moment, a moment where it’s hard to go through,” he told a press conference. “You have hopes that the ball didn’t cross the line.

“That just shows how cruel this game can be.”

Sweden’s Magda Eriksson said her team had shown heart if not their best game, having been dominated for much of the match.

“I don’t know how we managed to stay in this game,” she said in a radio interview.

“We didn’t play our best game, but in some way we showed we’re hard-headed, we showed heart, we never give up. We took it to extra time, we took it to penalties and we managed to win.”

Young US forward Sophia Smith was left shattered, having had a chance to win the match for the four-times champions when she stepped up in the penalty shootout only to blast the ball over the bar.

She was not the first player in her team to miss.

The talismanic Megan Rapinoe, renowned for her peerless record in shootouts, thumped the US’ fourth kick over the bar after Sweden’s Nathalie Bjorn also fired high.

“This is like a sick joke. For me personally, I’m just like, this is dark comedy. I missed a penalty,” Rapinoe told Fox Sports. “I think it can be cruel and just not our day,” the 38-year-old added.

Goalkeeper Zecira Musovic was Sweden’s hero, having made 11 saves before the shootout to keep them in the match.

Often starved of possession, the Swedes did not have a shot on goal until the 85th minute when substitute Sofia Jakobsson danced into the area, only to shoot straight at Naeher.

Naeher saved Rebecka Blom­qvist’s fou­rth shot for the Swedes in the shootout but Smith’s miss kept the Scandinavians in it.

After Naeher and Magdalena Eriksson converted their spot-kicks, Kelley O’Hara sent her effort pinging off the right post, allowing Hurtig to step up and send the champions out of the tournament.

The US will wonder how the match had to go to a shootout, having dominated the play and unle­ashed 21 shots, including 11 on target.

Lindsey Horan thumped a header against the bar and Musovic denied her again with a low dive when the US skipper fired a deflected cross at the far post.

Musovic produced another wonderful save to stop an Alex Morgan header and see the Swedes into extra time, then foiled a Lynn Williams shot in the first period.

Earlier Sunday, the Dutch, runners-up in 2019, suffered some anxious moments in front of 40,000 fans in Sydney and had goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar to thank for making several big saves in the first half.

Jill Roord scored after nine minutes to put the Dutch on their way against a team that sits 45 places below them in the world rankings and was featuring in the knockout rounds for the first time.

South Africa goalkeeper Kaylin Swart then made a mess of an innocuous Lineth Beerensteyn shot midway through the second half to gift the Dutch a second.

The African champions will be kicking themselves after having numerous chances in the opening 45 minutes, almost all of them falling to their livewire captain Thembi Kgatlana.

“Daphne saved us a few times and I was happy to lead 1-0 at half-time,” said Dutch coach Andries Jonker. “We did much better in the second half and had much more control of the game.”

His team will now return to New Zealand for Friday’s last-eight game in Wellington against Spain.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2023