Key PointsSweden’s goalkeeper Zećira Mušović was awarded player of the match when her team beat the USA.Sweden advance to the Quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup.At a post-match press conference, Mušović was asked if she knows Swedish former footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Swedish goalkeeper Zećira Mušović probably thought the standard Women’s World Cup post-match press conference would focus on her on-pitch performance, after her team defeated the USA in Sunday night’s tense Round of 16 match.
Mušović was awarded player of the match for a series of spectacular saves that kept the score at 0-0 through extra time, before Sweden won 5-4 on penalties to knock out the reigning champions.
So journalists were surprised and Mušović appeared annoyed when a journalist asked her about another famous Swede.
A journalist asked her if she knows Zlatan Ibrahimović, a high-profile footballer who had a 20-year career for Sweden’s men’s team.
The reporter said both players come from Bosnian heritage.
She shook her head and looked around the room before replying: “In Sweden, everyone knows who Zlatan is.”
The reporter also asked Mušović what she said to the US players during the penalty shoot-out.
“I was sat two seats along from the journalist who asked (the Zlatan question) and could not believe what I heard,” BBC journalist Emma Smith wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Utterly disrespectful after an incredible performance and a remarkable match/result Also, we only got three questions to Mušović at the press conference. One of them was this bollocks.”
Mušović’s teammates heaped praise on her after the match
“I have no words for her, she was absolutely incredible. It wasn’t one world-class save, it was 10,” winger Fridolina Rolfö said.
“She deserves everything she got to experience today and we are so grateful to have her.”
United States’ Sophia Smith has her shot at goal blocked by Sweden’s goalkeeper Zećira Mušović during the Women’s World Cup Round of 16 match between Sweden and the United States. Source: AAP / Scott Barbour
Veteran midfielder Kosovare Asllani described Mušović as a hero.
“Oh my god, wow, magic. She was a super woman at the end,” she said.
It’s the first time the US have been beaten before the Semifinals stage of a World Cup, while Sweden advance to face Japan in a Quarterfinal in Auckland on Friday.
“We know what we are capable of,” Mušović said.
“We knew that we were facing a really good team and needed to put in a good performance, which we did.
“I’m extremely proud of the girls and what we managed to do tonight because many people out there didn’t think that was possible.”
US coach Vlatko Andonovski and his top-ranked team had come under intense scrutiny after lacklustre performances in the group stage but came out swinging against world number three Sweden.
The Americans dominated possession and had 22 shots at goal, including 11 on target, but Andonovski’s “warriors” could not find a way past the inspired Mušović.
– With additional reporting by AAP.
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