In the U-17 Women’s World Cup, Mexico can dream big: Jimena Rojas

Mexico City, The method of the U-17 Women’s National Team is based on an apparently simple premise that consists of doing what other generations failed to achieve. Coach Jimena Rojas believes that the origin of an epic can occur in the category’s World Cup, where on Thursday they face North Korea at the start of the group stage.

“If we work together as a team, with specific objectives of where we want to go, we can dream big,” she says at a press conference, with the confidence of having prepared against elite rivals such as Portugal, Nigeria and New Zealand.

The group stage in an international tournament usually simplifies the future of a team. Since she found out that she was going to face England, Kenya and the North Koreans in the first round, Rojas became obsessed with forcefulness.

“It’s a World Cup, we’re going to go out and show what we’re made of,” emphasizes Pachuca midfielder Abril Fragoso, one of the players with the greatest projection in the Liga Mx Femenil. “My teammates have the same enthusiasm that I have to play in these kinds of tournaments. We seek to create our own history, we are here for a reason.”

In seven previous editions of the Cup, North Korea has reigned twice in the category (New Zealand 2008 and Jordan 2016) as has Spain (Uruguay 2018 and India 2022). South Korea, France and Japan are the other champions with only one trophy. The best result for Tricolor, which began its participation until 2010, came six years ago, when it lost to the Spanish team in the final.