Mexico women's national football team


The Mexico women's national football team represents Mexico on the international stage. The squad is governed by the Mexican Football Federation and competes within CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. It has won gold medals in the Central American and Caribbean Games and a silver medal in the Pan American Games team, as well as one silver and one bronze in the Women's World Cup prior to FIFA's recognition of the women's game. When it placed second in 1971, Mexico hosted the second edition of this unofficial tournament. In addition to its senior team, Mexico fields U-20 and U-17 squads as well, with the latter having reached the final during the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
Coached by Leonardo Cuéllar for most of the team's official existence, La Tri's senior squad has participated in three Women's World Cups and one edition of the Summer Olympic Games.
The senior squad was first established in 1963, but its first FIFA-recognized game was in 1991.

History

Unofficial era

Although not officially recognized by FIFA until 1991, Mexico's team was actually established in 1963, when many countries still had bans on women's football. In the 1950s, both Costa Rica and Argentina witnessed increased interest in the women's game and held tours in various countries. In 1963, Las Ticas, the Costa Rican women's national football team, spent six months in Mexico conducting a tour to increase exposure of the game. Observing the success of Las Ticas, Mexico formed its first team to play in opposition to the Costa Rican squad.
Led by Alicia Vargas, Mexico placed third in the 1970 Women's World Cup, a tournament FIFA has yet to acknowledge. Mexico fell 2-1 in the semifinal to hosts Italy before defeating England 3-2 in the third place match. The following year, Mexico hosted the 1971 Women's World Cup, which has also yet to be officially recognized. The squad reached the final but fell 3-0 to Denmark. An estimated 110,000 people attended the final at Estadio Azteca, which is the largest crowd ever to witness a women's soccer game; FIFA has not recognized this attendance record either.

Modern era

In the 1980s, when a series of mundialitos took place, Mexico participated in the 1986 edition. Mexico was placed in Group A along with Italy and Japan, but the team did not advance beyond the first stage.
Mexico's first official appearance in the Women's World Cup was in 1999, when the United States hosted the tournament. The team also qualified in 2011 and 2015, hosted by Germany and Canada, respectively. Likewise, the team qualified for the Summer Olympic Games in 2004. In all four instances, El Tri Femenil failed to advance beyond the group stage; in fact, the team has yet to win a single game in either major tournament.
The first official coach for the Mexico women's national football team was Leonardo Cuéllar. One of his first objectives was to qualify for the 1999 Women's World Cup. The team accomplished this by placing second to Canada in the 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship. However, much controversy arose regarding the nationalities of the recruited players. Preference was given to US-born players of Mexican heritage, largely because Mexico did not have an official league at the time. Andrea Rodebaugh, the team's then-captain, argued that the team's main goal was to qualify; she also wanted to strengthen the team and celebrate its official recognition. Despite the controversy, the team went on to participate in the 1999 Women's World Cup with a mix of US-born and Mexican-born players.
In recent years, an increase in young talent developing in Mexico brought an increase of expectations from Mexican football fans and media alike. Following their worst ever World Cup finish in 2015, fans began calling for Cuellar's resignation or firing. In 2016, the women's national football team failed to qualify for the Olympics, and lost to Costa Rica which was the turning point in the team's history since many thought the defeat resulted in Mexico becoming the fourth best team in CONCACAF. With these results and Leonardo Cuellar's controversial decision to not bring Charlyn Corral and Kenti Robles, whom had terrific seasons at their clubs in Spain's Primera División, onto the squad led to him resigning from his position in April 2016. Roberto Medina became the head coach in 2017.
In 2018 Mexico won the Central American and Caribbean Games by defeating Costa Rica 3-1 in the final.
At the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship Mexico entered as the third highest ranked team behind the United States and Canada. At the tournament Mexico finished third in their group with a record of one win and two losses, which included a surprising 2-0 loss to Panama. As a result of not advancing to the knockout round, Mexico was unable to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France.

Notable matches

Mexico's first recorded international game was against Austria during the 1970 Women's World Cup, when squad beat the European side 9-0 in the group stage. However, to participate in this inaugural tournament, teams had to qualify, so La Tri played against other teams prior to this match.
Before the modern era, Mexico defeated England 2-1 in the third place match of the 1970 Women's World Cup, the first edition of the tournament. In front of a record-breaking crowd, the team also reached the final of the 1971 Women's World Cup, but fell 3-0 to Denmark.
Among the most notable victories is when the team finished second in the 2010 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. Hosts of the cup, Mexico defeated the United States in the semifinal for the first and only time before falling to Canada in the final.

Coaching staff

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2020 Cyprus Women's Cup.
Caps and goals as of 11 March 2020, after the match against.

Recent call-ups

The following players were called up to the squad in the last 12 months.
This list may be incomplete.

Player records

Top goalscorers

Results and schedules

2019

2020

Competitive records

FIFA Women's World Cup

Olympic Games

CONCACAF Women's Championship

Pan American Games

Central American and Caribbean Games

Algarve Cup

The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation. Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and longest-running women's international football events and has been nicknamed the "Mini FIFA Women's World Cup."

Overall official record

Head coaching history

1. Nicolás Rodríguez: As La Tri’s first official coach between 1991 and 1998, Rodríguez took an inexperienced and under-resourced squad to the 1991 CONCACAF Women's Championship in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sending only one qualifier from the confederation to the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup, this tournament fielded eight teams divided into two groups. Matches were also only 80 minutes long. In Group A, Mexico lost to eventual winner United States 12-0, its worst ever appearance. With a loss against Trinidad and Tobago and a win against Martinique, Mexico finished third in the group, failing to advance to the semifinals. Likewise, during the 1994 CONCACAF Women's Championship, which determined the two qualifiers for the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, Mexico finished in third place, failing to reach the international tournament yet again.
2. Leonardo Cuéllar: Once a highly-touted player for the Mexico men’s national football team, Cuéllar took over El Tri Femenil after a brief stint as the women's soccer coach at CSULA. Head coach until 2016—a period of 18 years—Cuéllar had a questionable record. As head coach, Mexico only qualified for the world cup on three occasions and the Olympics once; his teams never won a single game in any major tournament, nor did they finish first in the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. Common criticism of his leadership was his nepotism and overreliance on US-born players. Cuéllar was never at risk of losing his job despite dubious results, and he even hired close allies, including his son Christopher Cuéllar. He also regularly held tryouts in the United States without doing the same in Mexico.
Initially charged with taking the squad to the 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship, which would award 1.5 qualification slots to the 1999 Women's World Cup, he was successful in qualifying for the team's first ever appearance at the official tournament. Finishing first in its group and winning against Guatemala in the semifinal, Mexico eventually fell 1-0 to Canada in the final. Mexico went on to qualify for the cup after defeating Argentina in the CONCACAF-CONMEBOL playoff match. Cuéllar was very lucky to qualify. The tournament expanded from 12 teams to 16 teams and the United States was the host, so their squad automatically qualified; had these two changes not been made, Mexico would have likely been out.
Cuéllar went on to schedule friendlies and participate in organized tournaments, but with few victories. The team qualified for 2011 and 2015, but his coaching style remained consistent. Frustration grew among his players after his call-ups involved much controversy. As players like Charlyn Corral and Kenti Robles demanded change, Cuéllar began to omit them from future squads. Likewise, he discriminated against Stephany Mayor and Bianca Sierra for being in a relationship, leading to their infrequent call-ups as well. His reign eventually ended when Mexico failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
3. Roberto Medina: Promoted from U-20 squad to the senior team without any official announcement from the FMF, Medina served as head coach from 2016 to 2018. With few victories—including a 3-0 win against Venezuela early in his tenure, his technique was essentially a continuation of Cuéllar's style. Though he was praised after Mexico won the gold during the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, he was relieved of his position after failing to advance out of the group stage during the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship. With losses to Panama and the United States, Mexico did not qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup despite having the Liga MX Femenil and the most talented generation it had seen up until this point. Historically weaker teams, such as Jamaica and Panama, advanced further than the squad, signifying that other teams had surpassed Mexico. After his ouster, he became head coach of Tigres. Medina had been the U-20 coach one other time, but elected to coach a men's team just before a world cup.
4. Christopher Cuéllar: With no official announcement, Cuéllar Jr. replaced Medina after the team failed to qualify for 2019. Cuéllar, the son of Leonardo Cuéllar, was promoted after serving as the U-20 women's squad coach. Like his predecessors, Cuéllar Jr. has had limited results. During the 2019 Pan American Games, La Tri finished in fifth place after failing to advance beyond the group stage despite the absence of both the United States and Canada. Throughout his first 21 games as DT, the team has had 6 victories, 5 draws, and 10 losses. Their best win has been against the Czech Republic, ranked 28th in the world, whereas their worst loss was against Paraguay, ranked 48th. Despite upcoming dates like the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, Cuéllar Jr. was seen working with men's teams. #FueraCuellar has trended on Twitter multiple times.

Domestic recognition

In various occasions, fans have showed up in large numbers to support La Tri. When Mexico played against Denmark in the 1971 Women's World Cup final, over 100,000 showed up at Estadio Azteca. Likewise, when Mexico played Argentina in a playoff game to qualify for the 1999 Women's World Cup, over 70,000 fans were in attendance.
Until recently, attention around the women's team was dwarfed by the men's squad. Few matches were televised or advertised, limiting knowledge around the team's achievements and struggles. Former ESPN commentator Nelly Simón frequently advocated for more attention to this team. Likewise, after winning the gold medal at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, Kenti Robles called on news outlets and fans to pay more attention to them. However, with increased attention in the women's game after the establishment of the women's league in 2017, more games have been televised. Since then, millions watched Mexico play in the U-17 world cup final against Spain in 2018.