Mexico’s U-15s finish third in Sportschain AGS Cup

Mexico couldn’t get past a bad start, but in the end had a good finish to end up in third place in the U15 Sportschain AGS Cup held in Spain. Mexico got off to a lousy start, with a bad loss to Japan by a score of 3-0 in their debut, which was followed by a scoreless tie against a Russian team that ended in last place of the tournament. Mexico then had their best display, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to tie in the final minute and getting a 3-3 draw against hosts Spain. Mexico got their only win in their final game played on Saturday, beating England 1-0. The win meant that even when both Mexico and England finished with five points, Mexico got the third place nod thanks to the head to head result.

Mexico’s start to the tournament wasn’t the greatest. The loss to Japan by a big scoreline of 3-0 meant Mexico needed to get a win to get back into the tournament. Unfortunately in the next game they could only get a 0-0 tie against Russia, which meant that with all the teams having played at least one game, Mexico sat in last place with just one point.

Mexico’s thithird game was against the host team Spain. While Spain looked the better side, Mexico took the lead with a second half penalty kick converted by Miguel Carreon. Unfortunately for Mexico, Spain took complete control of the game, got back with a long range goal and then converted twice more for a 3-1 lead. It looked like Spain would get their just three points until in the final minute a shot by Yael Uribe got in for a 3-2. Mexico took advantage of Spain’s surprise and pressured for a goal in injury time. In the last play of the game, a Spanish defender made a mistake that allowed Carreon to go against the keeper and score past him for the surprising 3-3 draw. The result might have not been the best tournament wise, but it was a great reward for an exiting performance in which Mexico hadn’t been the better team.

Then in the final game, Mexico finally got a win against England when Jesus Hernandez headed the only goal of the game for a 1-0 win. Despite the win, a Spain victory later that day against Russia meant that Mexico was out of contention for the title. Still, a third-place finish is a nice result for a team that is starting the process for the U-17 World Cup qualifiers to be played in 2021, two years from now.