Sweden stars zoom in to see goal-line review that clinched win over USA

Sweden stars were pictured zooming in on the goal-line review from the penalty that saw the team knock USA out the World Cup as they celebrated their dramatic victory in the locker room in Melbourne.

Lina Hurtig's game-winning penalty looked to have been saved by Alyssa Naeher but the ball looped up into the air and spun backward. Naeher desperately clawed it away but only after it had gone over the line by a matter of millimeters for a goal.

The referees needed to refer to goal-line technology to find out if the ball had gone over, and the replay showed that the USA had been agonizingly beaten by the smallest possible margin.

But as the USWNT cried on the field, Sweden headed to the locker room to celebrate sending the defending champion home and the stars of the team could be seen checking their phones to find out just how close the deciding call was.

In some of the most iconic images of the tournament so far, Sweden's players even had to zoom in on their iPhones to see that the whole of the ball had gone over the line.

Sweden players were seen jumping onto tables to sing and cheer with each other as the magnitude of their victory sank in.

The game had finished 0-0 after extra-time, with USA producing an improved display on the three group games.

But it was Sweden who held their nerve when it came to penalty kicks - Megan Rapinoe and Sofia Smith both missed spot-kicks for the Americans.

Sweden will now play Japan in the last eight of the competition. The Sweden goalkeeper Zecira Musovic was the star of the victory - she made 11 saves during the game itself.

'I'm at a loss for words,' she said. 'I don't know what to say except that I am extremely proud that we persevered against an extremely strong U.S. that pressed for 120 minutes. We're not going home yet.

'We know what we are capable of. 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.'

As for the US, the heartbreaking way they rubbed salt in the wounds.

'We just lost the World Cup by a millimetre. That's tough,' goalkeeper Naeher said after the game.

'To come up short hurts. It's going to hurt for a long time.'