Here are some interesting facts about the Mexican women’s national team as provided by U.S. Soccer.
The USA has faced Mexico 39 times. Of the last five meetings, one came in 2019, a 3-0 win in the final Send-Off Match before the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, three were in 2018, 4-1 and 6-2 U.S. victories in friendlies and a 5-0 victory in World Cup Qualifying, and most recently, a 4-0 U.S. victory during Olympic qualifying in January of 2020.
Eight Mexican players who played against the USA in January of 2020 are on this roster. Thirteen of the 14 U.S. players who played in that game made the 2020 Olympic Team roster.
The most recent meeting was in the semifinal of the qualifying tournament and that’s the game that sent the USA to the Olympics in Japan. Rose Lavelle opened the scoring in just the fifth minute before a pair of goals from Samantha Mewis (14th and 67 th) and a magical Christen Press chip (73rd) ensured the USA would be represented at the Olympic Women’s Soccer Tournament.
This will be the first match against the United States for relatively new manager Monica Vergara, who took over in January of 2021. She is the first female head coach in Mexico WNT history. The 38-year-old Vergara was a long-time member of the Mexican National Team and debuted as a teenager. She was a member of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Team as a 16-year-old, playing against Germany and Italy. She played against the USA prior to the World Cup on March 28, 1999, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Prior to getting the head coach job with the senior team, Vergara coached the Mexico U-15, U-17, and U-20 teams. She led the U-15 team to a third-place finish at the Youth Olympic Games and most notably took the U-17s to the championship game of the 2018 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup where Mexico fell to Spain.
Mexico has been able to play five matches this year, including a pair of friendlies in Mexico City in February in which Mexico defeated Costa Rica 3-1 and drew 0-0. Mexico also traveled to Europe in April, drawing 0-0 with Slovakia and falling 3-0 to rising world power Spain. Most recently, Mexico traveled to Japan where it lost 5-1 to the hosts in mid-June. Forward Alison Gonzalez scored Mexico’s lone goal in that game.
