Goalkeeper Valentina Murrieta emerged as Mexico’s hero after saving two penalties that certified her team’s victory against Brazil.
This, after the 1-1 draw in the 90 regulation minutes and 3-1 from the decisive eleven-meter shootout, in the match for third place in the U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The team led by Miguel Gambero signed an agonizing victory, with a first half dominated by Mexico with many chances that they failed to certify with a protagonist: Joselyn Solís, who had three attempts that did not result in a goal.
In the second period, Brazil took a step forward and took control of the match until scoring the first goal of the duel in the 78th minute, when Kaylane opened the scoring after being left alone against Murrieta after an assist from María.
Mexico did not give up and in the last play of the game, in 96, Evelin scored an own goal to give life to Gambero’s team. The extra time did not dictate the sentence and it was the penalty shootout that decided the name of the third place in the World Cup.
And that started with a mistake by Alvarado, who was met with a save by Morganti on Mexico’s first shot. Afterwards, the green team recovered and through Ibarra, Villalpando and Monroy scored their next three shots, while Murrieta guessed and stopped the attempts of Dulce María and Dany Pereira to give third place to his country.
Meanwhile, North Korea won its second consecutive World Cup in the category after beating the Netherlands 3-0, after an excellent first half by its rival.— EFE