Women’s ‘Tri’ out of the U-17 World Cup after losing 4-2 to England

Mexico City. The Mexican U-17 women’s team was eliminated from the World Cup of the category being held in the Dominican Republic after losing 4-2 to its counterpart from England, this Sunday in its second match of the group stage, held at the Cibao stadium.

With this result, the English team added six points and placed themselves in second position in group C, only behind the leader North Korea, who accumulated the same number of points after their 3-0 victory against Kenya.

Meanwhile, the ‘Tri’ was placed in third position, without points, like the Africans, fourth. Although there is still one date left to play in the first round, only the two best teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals, so Mexico no longer has a chance of qualifying.

Those led by Costa Rican Jimena Rojas excited the fans in the first minutes, when a free kick taken by Abril Fragoso, which was saved by the English goalkeeper, seemed to have crossed the goal line; However, after reviewing the play on the VAR, the referee decided not to mark it.

After the scare, the Europeans responded in the 11th minute, when Zara Shaw took advantage of a rebound from Mexican goalkeeper Camila Vázquez to counterattack and make it 1-0.

The Mexicans did not give up and were very close to scoring in the 14th, but Alexa Soto’s shot went over the crossbar. However, in the 17th minute, Ana Salas hit the net with a header, achieving a 1-1 draw.

From that moment on, both teams played with much greater intensity in search of breaking the tie; However, the timely reactions of the goalkeepers prevented the score from moving before the break.

Mexico managed to turn the score around at the beginning of the second half, when Alexa Soto correctly executed a penalty kick that had to be repeated, after a foul on Naomi Vázquez, to make it 2-1, at 49.

The score disconcerted the English team, who looked desperate, so they began to be erratic and were left with one less player after the expulsion of Omotara Fiyinfoluwa in the 57th minute.

Despite this situation, the Europeans did not give up and tied the scores again (2-2) at 61, through Nelly Lasova.

However, the tricolors did not know how to capitalize on their numerical superiority and received the third goal against at 88, through Rachel Maltby, while at 90+11 they were given the fourth and final blow, when Olivia Hibbert-Johnson beat Vázquez to sign the final 4-2.

In group D activity, Poland beat Zambia 2-0 and was ranked as the leader of the group, with four points, followed by Japan, which reached the same points after defeating Brazil 2-1, third with three. The Africans occupied the last position, not scoring.