Mexico’s veteran pushes passion
Youthful team looks to 33- year- old for leadership to achieve Olympic goal
It doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out that Maribel Dominguez is the eldest member of the Mexican women’s soccer team competing at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver.
While she is age 33, five of her teammates are still in their teens and 10 others have yet to hit the midway mark of their 20s.
But don’t let the vast differential fool you. Dominguez has life in her yet, and she intends on proving that in this tournament, which began Thursday.
“I feel young,” she said, through a translator, after Mexico’s training session at BC Place Stadium Thursday afternoon.
“They transmit that feeling of passion. Them being young players, they really [ give me] this vibe to play like I did years ago.”
Given the date on her birth certificate, Dominguez faces the task of getting a youthful Mexican team to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Only two teams from the CONCACAF tournament will advance to the Games, and the Mexicans must not only deal with youth and the possible inexperienced- fuelled mistakes that come with that, but the top- ranked American squad that will be out for revenge after losing to Mexico in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament semifinal in 2010.
The two teams are both in Group B and meet in the roundrobin finale Tuesday.
“I know we’re ready and we’re going to be able to go for the ticket. We want to be in London,” said Dominguez.
“We’re very motivated with the scenery and the stadium here. It’s magnificent.”
With such a young team, motivation might not be the issue for the Mexicans. Controlling their emotions, or getting the best possible performance out of the up- and- comers on such a grand stage might be the biggest challenge.
That’s where Dominguez and her years of wisdom and experience come into the equation.
She has played in some of Mexico’s biggest matches as far as women’s soccer goes.
She began her national career in 1998 — some of her current teammates were still in their infancy at the time — and led the Mexican team to the quarterfinals in the 2004 Games in Athens.
One of her defining moments came in 2010, when the underdog Mexican team upset the Americans 2- 1 in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying competition.
She scored in that game, which earned Mexico a berth in the World Cup.
Maybe the legs and the scoring aren’t there like they used to be — she was reportedly benched during the Pan Am Games — but her teammates still feel she can contribute.
“She’s phenomenal. The older players helped me, they’ve helped the younger players. They help us with our confidence, they tell us that if we don’t understand something in a drill, they say ‘ hey do this, keep your head up,’ ” said forward Chrystal Martinez.
“It helps so much. For instance, two weeks ago I had some issues understanding some formations and I was upset, and [ Dominguez] came up to me and said ‘ I was at that point, you’re young.’
“She’s always there. They’re all there, all the older players are always there and that helps so much.”
Mexico is hoping that combination of youthful exuberance and quality leadership can get the nation’s team to London in six months time.
“Since the beginning of this process, we knew what we had to do,” said Dominguez.
“We have all the security and the confidence of what we have to do in the field and what we have to do to represent Mexico.
“As experienced players, we have to try to give them a [ hand] so they can look up at us and if they need some kind of support, they know they have that.”
Mexico, fresh off a bronze medal at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, begins the tournament this afternoon ( 5 p. m.) playing against Guatemala.