USWNT’s perennial dominance turned stale in World Cup

The U.S. Women’s National Team awoke from its curious and criticized malaise Sunday to deliver its finest performance of this World Cup … just in time to say, “Goodbye.’’ 

The perennial top-ranked team in the world and two-time defending champion, which was trying to win a record third cup in a row and an unprecedented fifth overall, was eliminated by Sweden in a pulsating match that needed 120 minutes of play in the field and a record seven rounds of penalty kicks before Sweden prevailed, 5-4.

Sweden, ranked No. 3 in the world, advanced to face Japan in the quarterfinal Friday.

For the U.S. women, it was their earliest exit in the 32-year history of the World Cup, having advanced to at least every semifinals before this distinctly devastating disappointment.

Now, the USWNT is left with many questions about itself and the direction it takes from here. 

There’s a clear transition of personnel at play, with a younger generation now the focus and some older stars like Megan Rapinoe (38 and retiring), Alex Morgan (34), Kelley O’Hara (35), Julie Ertz and Crystal Dunn (both 31) and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (35) possibly having played their final World Cup wearing the Stars and Stripes.

The argument (excuse?) that emerged during the USWNT’s uncharacteristic struggle through group play (an uninspiring one win and two draws) that it’s raised the bar in the sport and much of the world has caught up is a fair one.

But it’s not the only reason why the USWNT is out of this World Cup.

The team, looking sloppy and disinterested, grew stale in its success, looking like it had taken its perennial dominance for granted and could just roll the ball out onto the pitch and win on reputation.

That may have been true and possible in previous years, but teams like Sweden are no longer intimidated by the USWNT — evidence of that playing out in living color Sunday when the American women had the better of play with 11 shots on goal to only one for Sweden.

Much the way Tiger Woods once set the standard of dominance in golf, stepping to the first tee at tournaments with an imaginary three-shot lead because his competitors were intimidated by him, the competition caught up while Woods’ play regressed (largely due to physical ailments).

Did the U.S. women deserve to win Sunday? You could make an argument for that.

But they probably deserved to lose to Portugal in the final game of the group stage, saved by a shot off the post in the 92^nd minute to scrape through to the knockout stage.

You heard USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski and several of his players Sunday discuss how “cruel’’ soccer can be. Sure, it is. All sports can be cruel. How do you think Portugal felt when that shot in the 91^st minute hit the crossbar and prevented it from advancing to the knockout stage?

“We just lost the World Cup by a millimeter,’’ said Naeher, who appeared to have saved what turned out to be the winning kick by Sweden’s Lina Hurtig, but replay showed that the ball bounded off Naeher’s hand and went over the line by a fractional margin. “That’s tough. We knew we hadn’t given our best in the group stage and we wanted a complete team performance.’’

They got that — except for the most important part of all, scoring goals.

The USWNT scored only four goals in four matches in this tournament, shut out in the final two matches and ending on a 238-minute goal-less drought.

That’s not good enough. Morgan, once a sniper for the U.S. and the face of the program, was held scoreless and afterward called the loss “devastating.’’

“It feels like a bad dream,’’ she went on. “The team put everything out there. I feel like we dominated, but it doesn’t matter. We’re going home. It’s a tough one to swallow.’’

What was toughest to swallow was, after the U.S. converted on its first three PKs and had the upper hand when Sweden’s Nathalie Bjorn missed her try high, Rapinoe, one of the most decorated players in USWNT history, blew her shot over the crossbar. 

Then, after Naeher made a save on Rebecka Blomqvist, 22-year-old Sophia Smith missed the net completely, wide right.

And later, with victory resting on her right foot, O’Hara, playing in her fourth World Cup for the U.S., chipped her shot off the right post, setting Hurtig up for the winner.

“We had a lot of great chances,’’ Naeher said. “Hats off to the Swedish goalkeeper (Zecira Musovic, who made 11 saves). She made some great saves. To come up short hurts. It’s going to hurt for a long time.’’