CNN
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South Africa were denied a historic draw for the country as Sweden scored a late goal to secure a 2-1 win Women’s World Cup.
In the 90th minute, New Zealand’s Amanda Ellscht scored for the Swedes in Wellington and broke the heart of the South Africans.
It looked like South Africa would claim their first point in the history of the Women’s World Cup.
Hilda Magia had shot a rebound over the line and put South Africa ahead in the 48th minute. It was South Africa’s second goal in the tournament’s history.
Andrew Kornja/AP
South African players celebrate taking the lead against Sweden.
The South Africa top scorer was later substituted and left the field in tears after apparently suffering an injury in the goal.
But in the 66th minute Sweden, semi-finalists of the tournament four years earlier, equalized. At first it was considered an own goal before it was awarded to Fridolina Rulfo.
Katherine Ivel / Getty Images
Sweden finished third at the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
Sweden were far from the best, but that shouldn’t detract from the impressive performance of South Africa, who finished 54th in the world and made their debut at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
The 2019 finalist is on course for success
Portugal also didn’t look out of place in their debut appearance at the Women’s World Cup, but eventually lost 1-0 to the Netherlands.
The goal, scored by Dutch defender Stephanie van der Graag in the first 15 minutes, gave the 2019 runners-up the lead as he completely dominated the run of play.
And the experience of the Netherlands showed that Portugal struggled as the game progressed.
Despite the defeat, Portugal will be comforted by their performance – but they need to step up in the last third to make their mark in the tournament.
Holland will be happy to start the season with all three points as the team prepares to face USWNT side in the next game – a repeat of the 2019 final.
2023-07-23 23:20:10
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