Mexico’s historic win over the United States women’s national team at the W Gold Cup seemed to come out of nowhere. The U.S. had won 16 games on the bounce against its neighbour, keeping clean sheets in each of the last six. Given Mexico hasn’t qualified for either of the last two World Cup tournaments or any of the last five Olympic Games either, even a USWNT in transition was expected to win this game.
Except that’s not painting the full picture. Mexico’s 2-0 triumph over the U.S., its first victory over the four-time world champion in 14 years, and its progression to the semi-finals of this Gold Cup, by way of an entertaining 3-2 win over Paraguay, have been anything but out of the blue.
For the last eight years, Mexico has been building towards a moment like the one it is enjoying right now. With a domestic league that is growing at an exponential rate, a focus on developing the next generation and some fantastic results for the national team at youth level, it has been a matter of when, rather than if, La Tri would piece it all together on the big stage.
And now that we are finally seeing it come to fruition, it feels like a watershed moment. “I think this is the start of a new era,” Lizbeth Ovalle, scorer of the first goal against the USWNT, said after that incredible win. She could well be right.