Cinderalla team to play for bronze, rather than gold
Canada downed 1-0 by Mexico in semifinal of under-17 World Cup
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (CP) — Captain Nicole Perez’s first-half penalty sent Mexico to the final of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup with a 1-0 victory on Wednesday that consigned Canada to the third-place match.
Spain defeated New Zealand 2-0 in the earlier semifinal at Estadio Charrua.
The Canadian women will now meet New Zealand on Saturday in the consolation final before Spain and Mexico face off to see who joins France, Japan, South Korea and North Korea (twice) on the list of under-17 world champions.
“It’s about getting over this,” said Canada coach Rhian Wilkinson. “Tonight I’m going to let them be sad, because it hurts for sure.”
Canada’s previous best finish at the U-17 tournament was seventh in 2008 and 2012.
Despite the loss, Wilkinson’s team has at the least matched the fourth-place finish by the Canadian senior team at the 2003 Women’s World Cup.
The only Canadian team to do better — male or female — at a FIFA world championship is the 2002 squad, featuring a 19-year-old Christine Sinclair, that finished runner-up to the U.S. at the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship on Canadian soil.
Wilkinson made four changes from her quarterfinal starting lineup with Sonia Walk, Ariel Young, Leonie Portelance and Teni Akindoju coming in for Julianne Vallerand, Wayny Balata, Kaila Novak and Jade Rose.
The Mexicans proved to be a well-disciplined, hardworking team that stayed solid in defence after going ahead in the 25th minute. At the other end, they hit the woodwork twice.
Canada had 59 per cent of the possession but failed to test Mexican ’keeper Jaidy Gutierrez, outshot 18-7 (5-0 in shots on target).
Referee Anastasia Pustovoytova whistled a penalty when Canadian defender Maya Antoine brought down the speedy Alison Gonzalez as she raced towards the by-line.
Perez cooly slotted home the penalty into the corner with goalkeeper Anna Karpenko rooted to the spot for the game’s lone goal.