Christen Press missed for the USA on their fourth kick and Lisa Dahlkvist then ended the game by putting a shot past Solo.
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Unfortunately Christen Press also went on to miss, allowing Lisa Dahlkvist to step up and slot home the winning penalty and give Sweden a truly smash-and-grab win. But after the USA couldn’t put Sweden away in regulation, had a goal called back in extra time, and botched penalty kicks, the Olympics were over.
The US equalised in the 77th minute, Alex Morgan taking advantage of a loose ball in Sweden’s area that ricocheted off the face of defender Jessica Samuelsson to score past Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.
After a strangely stilted, disjointed performance, the USWNT has been kicked out of a major worldwide tournament before the semifinal stage for the first time ever.
However, it was to no avail as Dahlkvist coolly converted to take Sweden into their first ever Olympic Games semi-final. Megan Rapinoe, who started against Colombia after missing more than eight months after right knee surgery, was on the bench but came on as a substitute in the second half. There are a lot of bright young stars on this team, but the fact is, the next time the USWNT gets together to compete for a world championship, the group could look very different.
“I don’t think they’re going to make it far in the tournament”, she added.
“The best team did not win today”, she said, according to Sports Illustrated.
However, the offsides rule states that a player must be in an onside position when the ball is played by a teammate.
“We played a bunch of cowards”, she said.
United States goalie Hope Solo really outdid herself in the Olympic soccer game against Sweden. In the opening 45 minutes, especially, the Americans were pushing both Meghan Klingenberg and Kelley O’Hara up from the back into the attack.
The reigning world champions had never failed to reach the semifinals of the five previous Olympic soccer tournaments and seven Women’s World Cups.
Solo, who made clear she was unhappy with what she viewed as her opponents’ defensive style of play and their lack of desire to “play great soccer”, had already caused controversy before the Games. Both teams had goals disallowed in extra time under controversial circumstances, which sent the match to penalties with elimination on the line. After an hour of defensiveness from Sweden, Stina Blackstenius sprung forward on a unsafe counter attack and received a pass from deep in the midfield that split the United States defenders.
Stina Blackstenius put Sweden ahead on Friday after 61 minutes but the United States equalised 16 minutes later through Alex Morgan.
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Moments later, Sweden had the apparent go-head goal also wiped out by an offside call.
