Mexico concluded their preparations for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Finals in Papua New Guinea in style on November 6, downing their fellow finalists, New Zealand’s Junior Ferns, 3-1 at QBE Stadium. The visitors began strongly, aided by a Meikayla Moore error in the fourth minute which the Junior Ferns’ captain immediately rectified, blocking the shot of Monica Flores after “Mouse”’s blunder had presented Kiana Palacios with an opening to exploit. Their hosts looked to respond, and in the eleventh minute, went close to opening the scoring. Sarah Morton won a header on the right, and Paige Satchell instantly brought Grace Jale into play. Her through ball rewarded Martine Puketapu’s angled run on the blindside of the defence, which put the striker one-on-one with Mexican goalkeeper Estheffany Barreras, who touched Puketapu’s shot onto the near post. Morton was soon heading the ball again, this time off her own line to prevent Maria Sanchez’s corner from arcing into the net. Cue a decent spell of Mexican pressure, prompted by a stray Sammy Murrell pass which invited Jacqueline Crowther to outpace Liz Anton and Moore before blasting the ball over the bar. The offside flag then denied Crowther the opening goal, before an onslaught of openings had the Junior Ferns on the ropes half-way through the first half, with the accuracy of Mexico’s corners key to what ensued. Sanchez delivered the first of them, with Moore’s header clear dropping invitingly for Monica Flores to hit flush on the volley. It deflected off Satchell for another corner, with Eva Gonzalez’s delivery being cleared to the edge of the penalty area. Again, Flores pounced, her shot this time ricocheting to safety off Moore, who knew very little about it. The next corner was cleared as far as Evelyn Gonzalez, whose low cross invited Crowther to let rip once more. This effort flashed over the crossbar, but when she next set her sights on goal, in the 27th minute, the net bulged behind Nadia Olla, whose poor option in playing the ball out to Moore resulted in the central defender being ambushed by Crowther - 1-0. Less than sixty seconds later, the scores were level. Straight from the kick-off, Jasmine Pereira put pressure on the Mexican defence, and Vanessa Flores blundered as a result. Barreras dashed off her line to thwart Pereira, but could only direct the ball to Puketapu, who calmly lobbed home the equaliser from twenty yards. That gave the Mexicans something to think about, and after another Sanchez corner had been headed over the bar by Vanessa Flores, a storming run down the right by Satchell resulted in her bursting into the penalty area and unleashing a drive which was deflected for a corner, only for referee Anna-Marie Keighley to award a goal kick. Back came the Mexicans, who were enjoying the support of a vocal group of local ex-pats in the stand. They were aided by another under-hit Olla pass which put her defenders in all sorts of bother, and invited Palacios and Crowther to combine for the benefit of Evelyn Gonzalez, who was frustrated to see Olla redeem herself by smothering this 40th minute shot. Three minutes later, the Junior Ferns spurned a chance to take the lead. Morton - she had a solid game - linked with Daisy Cleverley, who floated a cross into the penalty area for Pereira to attack. She failed to do so, however, allowing it to bounce - much to the delight of Barreras, who quickly gathered the sphere before Pereira could get a second bite of the cherry. The Junior Ferns continued to press for a second goal after half-time, with Satchell fouled on the

edge of the area by Diana Rodriguez, who picked up a yellow card for her troubles. Jale whipped a gem of a free-kick round the wall which beat Barreras all ends up, only to cannon off the post. It rebounded to Satchell, who set up Pereira for a shot, but the ‘keeper recovered to save at her feet. Mexico’s responsive was swift and spectacular - a dipping twenty-five yarder from Crowther which hit the crossbar just sixty seconds later. And within seconds, Moore under-hit a pass which put Anton in all sorts of bother, only for the defender to recover the situation well, much to the chagrin of Paulina Solis, who was poised to benefit from the mix-up. After Sanchez had seen her free-kick turned round the post by Olla, an angled cross from the same player found Palacios in the goalmouth with the goal at her mercy. But she failed to turn home a glorious opportunity to restore Mexico’s lead. They were afforded another opportunity to do so nineteen minutes from time, when Sanchez did Sophie Stewart-Hobbs for pace and skill, prompting the substitute to send her sprawling in full flight. Referee Keighley was pointing to the penalty spot before you could say “Ireland beat the All Blacks!”, and wasted little time in brandishing the yellow card at the substitute, who had been given a torrid time by Sanchez in the first match between the teams three days earlier. Up stepped Eva Gonzalez to do the honours, only for the midfielder to hit the post from the twelve yard mark. Palacios, following up, blazed the rebound over the bar - a real let-off for the Junior Ferns, who looked to exploit it straight away. Substitute Tayla Christensen tore down the left at pace before drilling a low cross into the goalmouth. Solis turned it into the path of Pereira, who was only denied a goal by Barreras’ brave save at her feet. Two goals in the last seven minutes did for the Junior Ferns, and the first of them was a snorter! A free-kick was cleared to Eva Gonzalez, who slipped the ball inside to Nancy Antonio. From fifteen yards, she slammed an unstoppable shot into the top far corner of the net - 2-1 Mexico after 83 minutes. The Junior Ferns were reeling after this blow, and they were dealt another as the game entered stoppage time. Belen Cruz got the better of Stewart-Hobbs on Mexico’s right before whipping in a cross which Anton completely misjudged, unlike substitute Bianca Solis, who was lurking behind her and buried the ball beyond Olla to complete the scoring. There was still time for the Junior Ferns to mount one last raid, with late substitute Hannah Blake bursting out of defence and playing a through ball which allowed fellow replacement Jade Parris to breach Mexico’s offside trap, leaving her with just Barreras to beat. But the striker, who is on the recovery trail after picking up a knee injury in August, stumbled and fell, her heavily strapped knee buckling beneath her, leaving Parris a rather dejected figure after the final whistle sounded to confirm Mexico’s 3-1 win, her FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Finals hopes hanging in the balance just eight days before the Junior Ferns face Ghana in Port Moresby. Junior Ferns: Olla; Morton, Moore, Anton, Murrell (Stewart-Hobbs, 54 (booked, 71)); Satchell (Rolston, 73), Cleverley (Christensen, 63), Coombes (Parris, 90), Pereira (Blake, 90); Jale (Steinmetz, 84), Puketapu Mexico: Barreras; D. Rodriguez (booked, 50) (Garcia, 74), V. Flores, P. Solis, M. Flores; Evelyn Gonzalez (Cruz, 62), Eva Gonzalez (Martinez, 84), Antonio, Sanchez; Palacios, Crowther (B. Solis, 85) Referee: Anna-Marie Keighley