Special report: Women’s goalkeeping has long been ridiculed but not any more – this is why

Chloe Morgan is The Athletic’s women’s football editor. She is a former professional goalkeeper who played for Tottenham in the Women’s Super League and Crystal Palace in the Women’s Championship.

Coming into this Women’s World Cup, I spent some time trying to pre-empt its emerging stories — who the standout stars might be, where the “Cupsets” might lie, how many more federations will be exposed as failing to properly provide for their players and staff.

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My heart sank a little as a former goalkeeper when I thought it was inevitable that there would be some obvious and decisive goalkeeping error that would trigger all kinds of debate or, worse, abuse about how female goalkeepers were just not up to scratch. 

Then it happened. South Africa’s Kaylin Swart, facing a soft shot directed straight at her by Lineth Beerensteyn of the Netherlands, let the ball slip through her arms and dribble into the back of the net, triggering a collective gasp around the stadium. The goal was a game-changer — the difference between South Africa, who were 1-0 down with 22 minutes still to play — going from hoping for an equaliser to damage limitation as they exited the tournament.

For Swart, despite playing in a history-making game for South Africa — this being the first time they had reached the last 16 stage — it will be a match she will want to forget. 

But this was far from the main focus of the game. In fact, barely any fuss was made and Swart received no backlash. If anything, the goalkeeping story that day was the positive one of Zecira Musovic of Sweden, who made 11 saves against the U.S. as her side went on to defeat the four-time champions on penalties.

The narrative around female goalkeeping has changed for good.