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Mexico bounced back from an opening loss to the United States to proclaim itself champions of the Netherlands Invitational Tournament prior to the U-17 World Cup. Mexico took advantage of the United States’ loss in the final game against Denmark to squeak by on goal differential after beating the host nation the Netherlands, who are one of the top candidates to win the U1-7 World Cup, by a score of 2-1. Mexico will now close up shop until they start the final concentration before traveling to Brazil for the World Cup, which is set to start on October 26th. Mexico will begin their World Cup on October 28th when they face Paraguay.
As previously mentioned, despite taking a 1-0 lead with a goal by Bryan Gonzalez, Mexico eventually fell in their opener to the United States by a score of 2-1. They then bounced back with a 1-0 win over Denmark thanks to a solitary goal from Bruce El-Mesmari. It was Mexico’s first three points but because the United States defeated the Netherlands by a scoring 3-1 in the same match day, it meant that another victory by the U.S. team would give them the tournament title.
In the final day of competition, a surprising result occurred when the US lost 4-1 against Denmark, the only team in the tournament not going to the World Cup. The large margin of the score gave both Mexico and the Netherlands a good opportunity to win the tournament if they won the final game. Mexico would go on to win said game by a score of 2-1, with once again Bruce El-Mesmari scoring both goals to give Mexico the six points and +1 goal differential that proclaimed them as champions over the United States.
Mexico took another positive step ahead of the U-17 World Cup, conquering their third tournament of the year after winning CONCACAF and Niigata titles. Moreover, Mexico can gain some confidence in having defeated a highly regarded Netherlands team. They will still have a tough road at the World Cup but hopefully coach Marco Antonio Ruiz gets something out of the tournament as the last tune-up prior to the final camp that leads to Brazil.