The defending champions, United States Women National Team (USWNT) have crashed out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. They lost on penalties to Sweden.
Lina Hurtig’s penalty sent Sweden into the quarterfinals, aided greatly by Zecira Musovic’s brilliant goalkeeping. It is the first time in tournament history that the United States has been eliminated at this early stage.
It was the most dramatic conclusion for the United States. Goal-line technology revealed that Alyssa Naeher had not done enough to keep Hurtig’s penalty kick out. The American number one made the correct decision, but she dropped the ball.
US manager Vlatko Andonovski defended the performance: ”I thought that we had a great gameplan, great strategy, we executed the game plan, we had the right personnel on the field to execute the game plan and if I had to coach this group, this game, all over again, I’d probably do the same.”
