Mexico’s Under-20 women’s team have proven themselves to be the rain on Guyana’s parade at the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championships, with a commanding 5-0 victory over the Lady Jags.
The Lady Jags’ play was alarmingly dissimilar to that in their first Group F match, which they won against Honduras, last Saturday.
Competing at the Olimpico Felix Sanchez Stadium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Guyana opted for a change in the goalkeeping department as Anessa O’Brien got her chance in front of the goal. There was even a change in captaincy as Kiana Khedoo led the team, with the remainder of the XI comprising Audrey Narine, Samantha Banfield, Savannah Mordesir-Singh, Gabriella Salvadore, Rory Scott, Shamya Daniels, Jenea Knight, Hasha Holder, and Jessica Myers.
Mexico were fairly quiet for the first few minutes of the game, but their opening goal came in the 10th minute when an infraction in the box by Guyana awarded them a penalty kick. Sinking the goal was Mexico’s Paola Chavero.
Maritza Maldonado later made it a 2-0 game with an on-target strike in the 28th minute, while Tatiana Flores added to the tally in the 37th.
With the score reading 3-0 at the half, there was much time for redemption for the Lady Jags, but simply put, it was an off day for the Guyanese ladies. The local women not only failed to maintain possession for extended periods, but also had few shots at the goal.
Mexico, however, thrived with Maldonado returning in the 56th minute to register a brace, while Avilez netted another in the 78th to push the score to 5-0.
Guyana will play their final group match on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 against Panama at 12pm local time. As it stands, the Lady Jags still have a chance of making it to the next round of the CONCACAF Women’s Championships, should they win or draw against Panama.
