The bitterest end

 Full redemption was an inch away. Less than that.

It was one swipe at the ball and then another, a millisecond late. It was the tiniest fraction of momentum nudging a stopped shot just past the goal line before Alyssa Naeher got a hand on it to swat it away for keeps.

It was a shot glancing off the goalpost instead of into the goal. A miss here. A miss there. A legend's last shot in anger sailing high and wide.  

Apply any cliche you want to Sweden 1, USA 0 in the women's World Cup this morning. They all fit one of the most remarkable games the tournament will ever see, two archrivals battling to the bitter end and then beyond, and then beyond that, and then beyond that.

And finally the PK Naeher stopped but not enough, the blocked ball spinning across the goal line by the skinniest of margins.

It was the bitterest sort of end for the American women but also redemption in a weird sort of way, The critics who rightly bashed them for their lackluster play in the group stage -- they played without passion, they were too unfocused and immature, even that they just didn't care enough -- got their rebuttal and then some in this game.

Passion? Check.

Focus? Check.

Maturity? Check.

All night long they forced the play against an unbeaten team a lot of folks figured would handle them, given how little they'd shown until Sunday. Were it not for the stellar play of Swedish keeper Zecira Musovic, who made 11 saves, the Americans would have won in regulation.

But they didn't, and they couldn't find the back of the net in the two overtimes, and then Megan Rapinoe, in her last game, missed high and wide on a PK that could have all but sealed it. The two teams were 4-4 on PKs going into the seventh round -- most PKs in women's Cup history -- and then Kelley O'Hara's attempt kicked off the right post and  Lina Hurtig stepped up for Sweden.

We've already told you what happened next.

The shot. The partial block by Naeher. The ball still spinning above the goal line; Naeher batting out the rebound ...

And then the cliches: Gallant effort ... game of "if onlies" .. game of inches ... heartbreaking way to lose ... 

And somewhere in there, "an historic loss", because it was the first time the U.S. had ever bowed out of the World Cup before the semifinals.

Remember it at way if you like. But for the future of the USWNT, it might be worth remembering another way.

That they went out on their feet. And that they answered a hell of a lot of questions in doing so.