Women’s World Cup Day 18: No three-peat for U.S. as resilient Sweden pulls off win
The United States’ domination on the FIFA Women’s World Cup got here to a nail-biting finish on Sunday in Australia.
Having seemed considerably uneven and uninspired within the group stage, the Americans put forth their greatest effort of the match within the spherical of 16, however it wasn’t sufficient to see them previous a resilient Sweden crew who pulled out the win by the thinnest of margins.
THE RESULTS
Netherlands 2, South Africa 0 (in Sydney) – Game stats || Report
Sweden 0, United States 0 — 5-4 shootout win for Swedes (in Melbourne) – Game stats || Report
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MAIN TALKING POINT
No three-peat for United States
For 10 seconds on Sunday, the Women’s World Cup got here to a dramatic halt and the group contained in the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium stood in eerie silence.
Lina Hurtig had simply stepped as much as the spot with an opportunity to win it within the penalty shootout after Sweden and the United States battled to a 0-0 draw by 120 minutes. American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who herself scored earlier on her penalty try, appeared to have made an athletic save on Hurtig.
But all eyes have been abruptly on French referee Stéphanie Frappart, who let it’s recognized the play was being reviewed by the VAR crew. Did Naeher handle to disclaim Hurtig? Or did the ball handle to simply recover from the road? Those have been simply among the questions being requested whereas VAR did its test.
The 10 seconds appeared like 10 minutes. Finally, Frappart obtained affirmation in her earpiece from the VAR sales space that the ball did cross the goal-line — by the smallest of margins — and informed the gamers on the sector.
While the U.S. crew seemed on in utter disbelief, the Swedes erupted in celebration after handing the Americans their first World Cup loss because the 2011 closing vs. Japan. Always the bridesmaid at this competitors, Sweden has completed third and was runner-up in 2003, and this victory would possibly simply be the one which lastly places it excessive and en path to successful its first World Cup crown.
The U.S. will rightly really feel considerably laborious achieved by on the day. The Americans carried the majority of the play and created way more harmful scoring probabilities than Sweden, whose solely shot on the right track got here within the eighty fifth minute. But they couldn’t discover a strategy to beat goalkeeper Zećira Mušović, who stood on her head between the posts for the Swedes. As a end result, there’ll be no three-peat as World Cup champions for the United States, who for the primary time in its historical past will end decrease than third place at this match.
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Netherlands marches on, South Africa heads dwelling
Finalists on the 2019 FIFA World Cup, the Netherlands stay on tempo to do one higher this time round following their shutout win over South Africa on Sunday. The Dutch topped Group E forward of the United States, the two-time defending champions, and must be thought-about among the many match front-runners, though a troublesome quarterfinal match vs. Spain on Thursday looms giant.
Jill Roord scored an early aim for the Netherlands and Lineth Beerensteyn added a second within the second half off a horrendous goalkeeping error by Kaylin Swart to e book its spot within the subsequent spherical. But this was not a straightforward outing for the ninth-raked Dutch in opposition to No. 54 South Africa, which was making its debut within the knockout spherical of the World Cup.
Although the Netherlands dominated possession (70 per cent) and devoted the movement of the sport, South Africa didn’t roll over and located moments of pleasure on the counter assault. Striker Thembi Kgatlana was a continuing attacking nuisance for Banyana Banyana in opposition to a Dutch aspect that seemed considerably competent at instances after going up 1-0. Even after Beerensteyn’s aim primarily sealed the Dutch win, the South Africans continued to press and made life troublesome for the European powerhouse.
“I’m very happy with a good win against a tough opponent,” Netherlands coach Andries Jonker stated. “But the part of me that wants great football is disgruntled with the first half, where we gave the ball away too much.”
South Africa carved out a variety of high quality scoring probabilities however couldn’t discover a strategy to beat excellent Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar. It all might have been so totally different for the African upstarts on the day had they been extra medical with their ending.
“Yesterday we spoke about needing to attain extra objectives and we had the alternatives, particularly within the first half. I’m simply proud, upset in fact, however actually pleased with this group of gamers,” South Africa coach Desiree Ellis stated.
GOAL OF THE DAY
It needs to be Lina Hurtig’s. It wasn’t the prettiest of objectives, however it was probably the most vital, because it ended the Americans’ bid to win an unprecedented third consecutive World Cup.
FAN OF THE DAY
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think I’m more disappointed than anything. I think as a group, we need to hold our heads up high. When we qualified for the last 16, the whole country went crazy and I’m expecting them to go crazy when we get back. This team really punched above their weight considering that we do not have what everybody else has — a professional league.” — South Africa coach Desiree Ellis.
THREE STARS OF THE DAY
1. Zećira Mušović, Sweden: The Swedish goalkeeper was completely sensible on the day, making 10 saves through the course of regulation and damage time to propel her crew to an incredible win.
2. Jill Roord, Netherlands: She scored her fourth aim of the match to present her crew an early lead and tempo them to the win over South Africa.
3. Daphne van Domselaar, Netherlands: She made a string of necessary saves when South Africa was furiously urgent to protect her crew’s shutout win.
LOOKING AHEAD
The spherical of 16 continues on Monday with one other pair of video games. Reigning European champion England, which gained all three of its group stage video games by a mixed rating of 8-1, faces African shock bundle Nigeria in Brisbane (3:30 a.m. ET). The Nigerians wish to win their first-ever knockout spherical match of their ninth World Cup look. Also, co-host Australia takes on Denmark in Melbourne in Sydney (6:30 a.m. ET). The Australians are trying to hitch the United States (in 1999) as the one host nation to win a Women’s World Cup.
John Molinaro is without doubt one of the main soccer journalists in Canada, having lined the sport for over 20 years for a number of media retailers, together with Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is presently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, an internet site devoted to in-depth protection of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. TFC Republic could be discovered right here.
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