President Joe Biden praised the US Women’s National Soccer Team after the squad suffered a heartbreaking loss to Sweden in the Women’s World Cup.
The team suffered its earliest-ever exit from the competition on Sunday night in New Zealand when Sweden came out victorious in a 5-4 penalty shootout after a scoreless draw.
Mr Biden offered comforting words to the crew in a tweet early Sunday afternoon in the US.
“@USWNT, you’ve made your country proud,” it read.
“Congratulations on an incredible run. This team is something special and I’m looking forward to seeing how you continue to inspire Americans with your grit and determination – on and off the field.”
What would turn out to be the Americans’ final match in this year’s World Cup saw zero goals scored throughout the full 90 minutes.
As the match went to penalties, Megan Rapinoe, Sophia Smith and Kelly O’Hara each missed kicks that could have secured the win.
Sweden’s Lina Hurtig ultimately sealed her team’s victory with a narrow goal on USA keeper Alyssa Naeher - who argued that she’d made a save before the ball was ruled over the line.
“We just lost the World Cup by a millimeter. That’s tough,” Ms Naeher said. “I am proud of the fight of the team. We knew we hadn’t done our best in the group stage and we wanted a complete team performance and the team came out and played great.”
USA Captain Alex Morgan said she was “just devastated”.
“It feels like a bad dream,” she said. “The team put everything out there tonight, I feel like we dominated, but it doesn’t matter. We’re going home and it’s the highs and lows of the sport of soccer. So, yeah, it doesn’t feel great.”
Read Jamie Braidwood’s full account of the match here.
