U.S. Wins but Don’t Tell That to Mexico
Leonardo Cuellar’s grin said it all. Down in the locker room at the Rose Bowl Sunday afternoon, Mexico’s women’s national team coach was positively beaming.
And he was the losing coach.
Of course, that’s what happens when you hold the United States scoreless for more than half an hour. That’s what happens when you limit the Olympic gold medalists to a single goal in 85 minutes.
In fact, even an eventual 3-0 loss to the former world champions in front of 27,034 fans could not remove the smile from Cuellar’s face.
On either side of the border, that’s called a moral victory.
The last time the teams met, in September, the U.S. won, 9-0. The time before that, it was also 9-0. And their first encounter resulted in a 12-0 U.S. whitewash.
So a 3-0 defeat is progress. Especially considering that the World Cup ’99 hosts out-shot Mexico, 42-1, hammering long-range shots from all angles but frequently failing to find the target.
“I’m very satisfied with our performance, and in particular with the discipline that we showed out there” said Cuellar, whose team faces the daunting task of playing Brazil, Germany and Italy in the first round of the June 19-July 10 Women’s World Cup.
Mexico, with goalkeeper Linnea Quinones, winger Andrea Rodebaugh midfielder Laurie Hill and forward Maribel Dominguez playing especially well, was pinned back in its own half for almost the entire game, but the defense held firm no matter what the U.S. tried.
It was not until Julie Foudy got her head on a cross from Shannon MacMillan in the 38th minute that the U.S. took the lead. And it was only two goals by Kristine Lilly in the final five minutes that made the final score look even slightly lopsided.
Lilly’s first goal came from a shot on the turn into the lower left corner of the net after Tiffeny Milbrett had got behind the Mexican defense on the right and hooked the ball back to Aly Wagner, who found Lilly with a short pass.
Her second goal was a blast just inside the right post after Mexico’s Iris Mora had only partially cleared a Mia Hamm cross from the right.
The play of the game, however, was Quinones’ save on Hamm deep into the second half when the world’s third-leading all-time goal scorer got free on a one-on-one breakaway with only the keeper to beat.
“I just pretty much concentrated on the ball,” Quinones said. “I didn’t look at her, I didn’t look up once. I basically just watched the ball, and when she took that one extra touch, that’s when I went for it, and I was lucky and got it”
Quinones smothered the ball on the edge of the penalty area, stealing it from Hamm, who has 104 international goals but has been held scoreless in the past five games as she continues to pursue the world record of 107 goals.
“All I remember was I had it [the ball] on my left foot and the goalkeeper came out pretty high,” Hamm said. “I don’t think the ball was as far out in front of me as I like it to be if I want to get a shot off. So then I tried to dribble her but I couldn’t get around her. She made a tremendous save.
“I would have loved to have scored today, but it wasn’t necessary. As long as I can keep contributing in ways to help my team win, that’s all I care about. Goals have never defined me as a player. What defines me as a player is my impact on this team.”
Next up for the U.S. is a two-game series against China, the team that beat it in the final of the Algarve Cup in Portugal earlier this month, in Hershey, Pa., April 22 and Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., April 25.
Those games promise to be even tougher than Sunday’s, but Mexico’s performance provided an excellent warm-up.
“We were confident that the outcome would be different from the past,” said Rodebaugh, Mexico’s captain. “We knew we were a better team [than earlier results indicated].
“Leo [Cuellar, a former Mexico World Cup player and longtime Cal State L.A. coach] has turned it around 100%, there’s a completely positive attitude. He’s given us confidence in ourselves.”
The last word belongs to Quinones, a freshman at San Diego State and one of five U.S. college players in the Mexican starting lineup.
“Everyone on this team was out for one thing,” she said. “We wanted to prove ourselves to everyone and show that we deserve to be in the World Cup.”
Consider it a mission accomplished.
