The US women's national football team failed to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time in its history. At the tournament, which is taking place in Australia and New Zealand from 20 July to 20 August, the Stars and Stripes lost to Sweden on penalties. Regular time ended with a score of 0-0.

A real drama unfolded in the penalty shootout. First, Megan Rapinoe, the world's most famous footballer and winner of the Women's Ballon d'Or, missed the goal. After this match, the 38-year-old midfielder announced her retirement.

The decisive penalty kick was taken by the Swedish striker Lina Hurtig. The US goalkeeper Alyssa Neukher was able to save the shot, but Goal-Line technology showed that the ball had crossed the goal line by a millimetre.

After a signal from the VAR assistants, the main referee, Stephanie Frappard, recorded the goal, which shocked Neukher and all the Americans.

The USA won the previous two World Cups in 2015 and 2019.

Later, photos from the Swedish dressing room appeared on social media, showing the players looking at a shot from the Goal-Line system.

Swedish fans have already drawn a photo frog and attached it to their flag.

In the other match of the 1/8 finals, the Dutch national team beat South Africa 2-0.

Earlier, the teams of Spain and Japan reached the quarterfinals.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, earlier the German women's national team (No. 2 in the FIFA rankings) failed to reach the playoffs at the World Cup for the first time in history. The two-time world champions, eight-time European champions, Olympic champions, and three-time Olympic bronze medallists finished the group stage in third place.

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