Maira Pelayo had been on the pitch for less than 10 minutes when she scored one of the most memorable goals for the Mexican women's national team.
Pelayo received the ball and quickly dribbled up the left side off a high cross-field pass from Karen Luna. She found a small opening between American players Midge Perse and Emily Sonnett and fired a shot easily past goalkeeper Alyssa Neher.
It was a jubilant moment for Pelayo, whose stoppage-time goal sealed Mexico's historic victory in the group stage of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup. The team hadn't beaten America in 14 years. This was the first time they did it stateside.
“This shows that our national team is growing very much,” Pelayo said. The Athletic“There's still a lot of work to do. But I think we're on a really good path.”
After nearly a decade of strategic investments, the Mexican national team is now able to compete with some of the best teams in the world, thanks to a thriving domestic league and a recent decision to reorganize the entire Mexican Football Federation. . She took over the role of sports director after the senior women's team failed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics.
“A strong women's national team depends on having a strong national league, and a strong national league depends on having strong clubs,” said Andrea Rodebaugh, sporting director of the Mexican women's national team and former national team player. says. “In recent years, the league has grown and strengthened, and more teams are starting to invest in their women's programs, and that's reflected in the national team.”
Mexico attracted attention with its performance at the 2024 Gold Cup (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
At the end of 2016, club owners in Mexico's top men's league, Liga MX, approved the creation of a parallel women's league. The goal was to develop and grow talent in Mexico to strengthen the national team and ultimately establish a market that would become a top destination for foreign talent. Since then, the league has continued to sign some strong international players, such as Spain's Jenni Hermoso, who signed with Pachuca in 2022 and currently plays for Tigres. The league famously beat out the Orlando Pride of the National Women's Soccer League, who drafted her in the first round, to acquire current Chelsea striker Mia Fishel, who signed with the Tigres after graduating from university.
Attracting top talent from around the world fosters the league's development and benefits those who play in the league. That includes most of Mexico's top teams.
Head coach Pedro López, who was appointed to lead Mexico in 2022, said, “80 to 90 percent of the players on my team are in Liga MX.'' “This league is a strong league that allows Mexican players to find a suitable place to develop, both at the professional and sporting level, and it is growing every year. With each season, the situation is improving. Tools are also being generated to provide the same competitive environment for younger players.”
The growth of women's soccer in Mexico can be tied to the development of women's soccer in the United States. Success in one country may be success in another.
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Before Liga MX entered the women's game, the Mexican federation had an agreement with U.S. Soccer that gave Mexico the option to assign players to NWSL clubs. This partnership lasted from 2013 to 2016, but the Mexican federation announced that it would no longer send players to the NWSL due to the limited playing time given to players. Shortly thereafter, Liga MX Femenil was founded.
Fast forward to 2024, and both leagues are thriving and working to further grow the game. The NWSL and Liga MX Femenil have announced plans for a 33-game tournament called the Summer Cup. The tournament will involve the top teams from both leagues and will be held during the Olympic holidays.
In a joint statement, Liga MX Femenil director Mariana Gutierrez called the partnership “a great achievement for women's football in our region and around the world.”
The countries' desire to grow the women's game in North America is reflected in their joint candidacy to co-host the 2027 Women's World Cup. The winning bid will be announced by FIFA in May and would be a boon for the region, which just completed hosting the 2026 Men's World Cup, if each country wins the hosting rights.
“That will be a big plus for us,” Rodborg said, looking back at the 1999 World Cup, which he played in. “The tournament was held in the United States, but the team in Mexico, which had just qualified, attracted attention and created this excitement.'' The interest and desire of little girls to play was born, and that's how today began. I can say that. ”
If the Mexican national team secures the hosting rights with the United States, it will automatically qualify for the next World Cup. But until then, the team is working to get to that stage on its own.
Head coach Pedro Lopez emphasizes player development (Omar Vega/Getty Images)
Prior to joining the Mexico national team, López enjoyed success with several youth national teams in his native Spain, establishing himself as a coach capable of nurturing and developing young teams. Mexico's recent run to the Gold Cup semi-finals is evidence of the success of López's leadership with the first team so far, but the team will need to build on this momentum if it is to achieve its ultimate goal of returning to the World Cup and Olympic stages. He understands that he has to. That's why the team recently organized two international friendlies against Colombia and Australia in the run-up to the annual MEX Tour W in the United States.
“These are the types of rivals we want to face and overcome,” Lopez said. “We are on a good path. This last Gold Cup showed what we can and want to do. We need to prove it at every opportunity.”
Mex Tour W will also help the women's team connect with its existing fan base in the United States. The tour is organized by Soccer United Marketing, the marketing arm of Major League Soccer, through a long-standing partnership between SUM and the Mexican Federation. Men's teams have been participating in this tour since 2002, and last year women's teams also participated for the first time. The men's team has drawn sold-out crowds in the U.S. for years, leaning into a rivalry with the U.S. men's national team in cross country. That rivalry may soon emerge in the women's game as well.
“Mexico just started creating this rivalry because of their results in the Gold Cup,” Rodeborg said. “All of a sudden, everyone turned around and looked at Mexico. And now we know that every time we play, there's going to be a little bit more of a rivalry between the two teams.”
Rodeborg, who took over as Mexico's sporting director in 2022, said the Mexico tour will give the players more time to play together and build the culture that López has cultivated since becoming manager. .
“This tour allows us to play against teams that will help us grow, such as the teams that qualified for the World Cup last year and the teams that qualified for the Olympics this year,” said Rodebaugh. “And it's those games that will help us continue to develop, which is our goal, but also to start working with the younger players who will be coming up from the lower age groups in a couple of years. It’s also connected.”
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As the game grows in the country, these younger age groups are also finding success. Last year, Mexico won the CONCACAF U-20 Championship, defeating Canada in the semifinals and the United States in the final. 19-year-old goalkeeper Itzel Velasco emerged as a standout player in the tournament and earned his first call-up to the first team for this month's tour of Mexico. Velasco also plays for Club América in Liga MX.
Hosting tournaments like the Mexico Tour fosters increased interest within the United States by encouraging a new generation of Mexican-American talent to consider playing for the Mexican national team as a desirable option. It also leads to doing.
That's why Pelayo, who was born in the United States and grew up in California, made scoring against the United States at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles so special. Her family was also in attendance to watch the game, which she said added to the frenetic atmosphere that night. She felt like she had more Mexican fans than American fans, she said.
That pride is what drove Pelayo to play in Mexico. The 27-year-old is a winger for Tijuana in Liga MX, and although she made her first-team debut in September, she played for several US youth national teams from U-15s to U-23s until 2017. was. .
“Obviously, people who were born in America always say, ‘I play for this country.’ But after coming to Mexico, immigrating, and playing professionally here, I fell in love with this country. ” Pelayo said. “I've grown to love where my family is from, and to be honest, this culture is so welcoming. I love it so much. That's what inspired me to play for this country and love this country. I think it made me decide to support my hometown.”
Mexico and the United States will meet again on July 13 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, in the penultimate send-off match for the U.S. team before the Paris Olympics. Some might have expected this rematch to automatically favor the United States before the Gold Cup.
“Mexico has more respect for their football,” Pelayo says. “It started in Liga MX and has progressed so much. … It's getting better every year.”
(Photo: Michael Janosz/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
