Images present the gut-wrenching second Crew USA was knocked out of the Ladies's World Cup by a matter of inches

• The US Ladies’s Nationwide Soccer Crew misplaced to Sweden through the Ladies’s World Cup on Sunday. 
• It marks the US group’s earliest exit from the worldwide competitors. 
• Sweden eradicated the US group in a penalty shootout after a scoreless draw. 

Sweden knocked the USA out of the 2023 Ladies’s World Cup on Sunday, marking the US group’s earliest exit from the worldwide event. 

Crew USA misplaced to Sweden 5-4 in a penalty shootout after a scoreless attract regulation and additional time, in response to The Related Press. Per ESPN, the match was misplaced by inches after Sweden’s Lina Hurtig secured the purpose throughout her kick. The tense second was captured Sunday in a tweet by @beInSPORTS_EN.

Crew USA’s goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher appeared to dam the shot, however sadly, after the referees reviewed it, they discovered Naeher did not cease the ball.

The loss got here because the US group tried to win a 3rd consecutive World Cup win after championships in 2015 and 2019. Japan will now face Sweden within the quarterfinals on Friday.

Crew captain Alex Morgan advised the AP she was “devastated” by the loss.

“Simply devastated. It seems like a nasty dream,” Morgan mentioned. “The group put the whole lot on the market tonight, I really feel like we dominated, but it surely would not matter. We’re going dwelling and it is the highs and lows of the game of soccer. So, yeah, it would not really feel nice.” 

The outlet reported that Megan Rapinoe, Kelly O’Hara, and Sophia Smith missed penalty kicks that would have clinched a victory. 

“We simply misplaced the World Cup by a millimeter. That is robust,” Naeher advised the AP. “I’m pleased with the combat of the group. We knew we hadn’t achieved our greatest within the group stage and we needed a whole group efficiency and the group got here out and performed nice.” 

US defender Julie Ertz, who performed within the 2015 and 2019 Ladies’s World Cup, added that the loss was emotional as a result of it is “in all probability” her “final recreation ever.” It is Rapinoe’s final World Cup recreation as nicely. In July, she introduced her intent to retire from the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League after the 2023 season. 

Sunday’s stumble got here after the US group struggled within the event’s group stage, together with virtually getting knocked out by Portugal of their earlier recreation. Different gamers — like Canada’s Christine Sinclair — have recommended the US group’s World Cup reign is coming to an in depth. 

“Clearly, they gained the final World Cup, however they do not have the identical stage of worry that they used to have,” Sinclair advised Insider in November 2022.