U.S. suffers early World Cup exit with shootout loss to Sweden

The punchless U.S. women are out of the World Cup, after yet another scoreless match and a disastrous shootout.

The gang that couldn’t shoot straight made America’s earliest exit, ever, after Sophia Smith knocked a potentially-winning penalty far over the crossbar and Alyssa Naeher’s valiant save attempt on Lina Hurtig turned into a cruel, bouncing goal.

The U.S. lost the shootout, 5-4, when Hurtig’s shot somehow crossed the line by inches after Naeher blocked the ball. If it is any consolation, this was the team’s best performance at the World Cup. But the loss to Sweden doubtless marks the end of the Vlatko Andonovski era. The U.S. coach failed to win an Olympic gold medal or a World Cup title, and that is simply not good enough by lofty, American standards.

The U.S. dominated play for much of the match, in the team’s best tournament performance. So, yes, the Americans deserved a victory. But the U.S. scored only four goals in four matches at this tournament, one goal in the last three matches, and zero goals in the last 238 minutes of playing time.

To be fair, the U.S. had some legitimate shots on goal in this game. Sweden keeper Zecira Muovic kept her team in the match with diving saves off U.S. headers — one by Lindsey Horan in the first half, then another from Alex Morgan in the second — and on a shot by Lynn Williams in extra time.

The first half was extremely encouraging for the Americans. Sweden went to a high press early, earning corners in the process, and looking particularly dangerous on these set pieces. The Americans found their legs, however, and thrived in the uncustomary role of counter-attackers.

This new, over-the-top tactic produced several real chances for the U.S. Trinity Rodman created space and hammered a couple of shots at goal. Then, in the 34th minute, on a corner from Andi Sullivan, Horan’s header glanced off the top of the crossbar. Soon, the Americans were in control of both tempo and possession. But once again, this dominance failed to produce a goal.

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Neither Alex Morgan nor Megan Rapinoe scored a single goal in the tournament. And in the shootout, Rapinoe, like Smith, struck the ball into the crowd instead of into the net.

This was the seventh time in nine World Cups that the U.S. faced Sweden, yet for only the first time in the knockout round. When you play a team that often, with flip-flopping results, some nastiness is certain to surface. There was history here. Nasty history. Back in 2015, former U.S. coach Pia Sundhage had moved on to that same position with Sweden and said she would bench Abby Wambach if she were still managing the Americans.

Then in 2016, Hope Solo called the Swedes “a bunch of cowards” for playing a defensive formation against the U.S. during a key match at the Olympics.

As always, there was some mystery to the U.S. lineup, particularly at midfield and forward. Andonovski’s options were somewhat limited without the services of Rose Lavelle, who was suspended with two yellow cards. He went with two lineup changes — one of them a surprise. Emily Sonnett got her first start, replacing Lavelle, ahead of Savannah DeMelo. Trinity Rodman returned to the lineup after being benched against Portugal for Lynn Williams. Sonnett’s presence at defensive midfield pushed Lindsey Horan into a more attacking position.

Andonovski said he was confident Sonnett, and this group, could handle Sweden’s well-known roughhouse style.

“We’re very well of their physicality,” he said. “We worked a lot on it.”

As it turned out, Sonnett and Rodman were two of the most effective players on the field.