Mexico draws 2-2 with Benin in its debut in the Women's U-20 World Cup

The lack of concentration marred Mexico's debut in the Women's U-20 World Cup. The tricolors let an advantage of up to two goals on the scoreboard slip away to end with an unexpected 2-2 draw against the representative of Benin in the World Cup tournament being held in Poland.

The surprising result, which broke the predictions of the Mexican coaching staff, left Tricolor for now in third place in group A with just one point, like the Benin team. Host Poland is in the lead with three points after beating Argentina 3-0, last in the sector.

With this panorama, the next challenge for the team led by Doriva Bueno will be to win against local Poland on Tuesday to recover in its effort to comfortably qualify for the round of 16.

Backed by the growth they have had in recent years with the Liga Mx Femenil, Mexico intends to surpass at least the quarterfinals, the instance to which they have gone the furthest on four occasions (2010, 2012, 2016 and 2022). However, they could not meet the expectations of a victory in their first match of this edition against Benin, an African country where the development of women's football has also been gradual since 2002.

As one of the youth stars of the Mexican Women's League, Alice Soto scored the first goal at the Katowice Arena in just 21 minutes. Michel Fong, Tijuana's winger, rescued the ball from the right side to send a cross that the Rayados midfielder finished from point-blank range. Soto was unable to finish the game as he suffered an injury shortly before halftime.

María González replaced Soto at 45+8 and as soon as the second half started she sent a pass for Montse Saldívar (52) to finish from the edge of the area with a left-footed shot.

It seemed that Mexico would come out with the victory comfortably, but its own mistakes marked a different course in the match.

In an act of recklessness, Noemí Villalobos committed a foul and awarded the African team a penalty. Romaine Gandonou was in charge of taking the maximum penalty to score at 56, a shot that became the first goal in the history of the African team in a Women's U-20 World Cup.

Then, Gandonou took advantage of another error by the tricolor defense to beat goalkeeper Camila Vázquez alone and thus seal the tie.

The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, was at both the duel between Mexico and Benin and the opening match between Poland and Argentina. The Swiss-Italian evaded answering questions about his future at a time when he faces a crisis after his attempt to partially privatize FIFA's flagship tournaments. "There will be a lot to say, but it will be in a suitable place and time to do it. It is not today, it is not here, because here and today, we are enjoying football," declared Infantino.