‘Penalties suck’ - USA captain Lindsey Horan reacts after Sweden stun World Cup holders in shootout

USA captain Lindsey Horan said penalties “suck” after the World Cup holders were stunned by Sweden in the last 16.

The game went to extra time and then penalties after neither side could break the deadlock, before Sweden booked their place in the quarter-finals in hugely dramatic fashion.

Both teams missed a raft of spot-kicks before Chelsea’s Zecira Musovic stepped up to dump out the defending champions - after a VAR check to confirm whether the ball had crossed the line.

It was the latest major upset of this year’s Women’s World Cup and Horan admitted the manner of the defeat was tough to take.

“First and foremost, I’m so proud of this team,” Horan said.

“A lot went into this performance and kind of changing gears and playing like us, playing our style and being confident, patient, all those things. We went out and did it.

"I think we played beautiful football today and we entertained, and we created chances we didn’t score.

"This is part of the game. Penalties, to be frank, they suck. They’re cruel, I’ve gone through too many of them in my career.

"I’m proud of every player who stepped up to take a penalty today, score or miss, it’s courageous to go and take a penalty, so I’m very proud of my team.”

The American side were criticised for how they reacted to scraping through the group stages but turned in a better performance against Sweden.

However, they came up against an inspired Musovic in the Swedish goal, who produced a string of excellent saves to send the contest all the way.

The defeat also raised questions about the future of a US team in transition, with Megan Rapinoe set to retire later this year, but Horan insists the young players coming through are more than capable of carrying on the American legacy.

“I think you just saw it on the field today. Being able to come out of the group stage where we didn’t perform our best and changing it to this kind of performance, this is what this team is going to be made of,” Horan added.

“There are so many young players coming through and absolutely killing it. Look at how incredible Naomi [Girma] was this entire tournament.”

USA coach Vlatko Andonovski added: "I know we were criticised for the way we played... I think we came out today and were all about the grit, the resilience.

"Unfortunately, soccer can be cruel sometimes."

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