Mexican women's soccer team get its footing
Soccer moms aren't common yet in Mexico, but that doesn't mean they aren't a force to be reckoned with.
In fact, in a country that's slowly becoming a force on the international sports scene, few teams have risen higher and faster than Mexico's women's soccer team. And to get there, they've had to beat more than just their opponents on the field. They've also had to overcome insufficient funding, a lack of infrastructure, little support and centuries of ingrained social teaching.
"Machismo in Mexico is nearly impossible to remove," Mexican women's soccer Coach Leonardo Cuellar explained. "It's part of the culture. There will always be detractors for women participating in the sport."
All of which makes the Mexican national team's success under Cuellar all the more impressive. The Mexican women's team comes into Friday's 7 p.m. exhibition at the Coliseum -- with defending national champion USC -- ranked 22nd in the world, its best ranking ever. Mexico has reached the medal round in three consecutive Pan American Games -- winning once -- and is the first team from a Spanish-speaking country to qualify for either the women's World Cup or the Olympic Games.
It did both.
And with a good showing in April's Olympic qualifying tournament, Mexico could be heading to this summer's Games in Beijing.
"Women's soccer in Mexico is still in its infancy," said USC women's soccer Coach Ali Khosroshahin, who is also an assistant with the Mexican team under Cuellar. "It's a real political issue. Soccer in Mexico is political . . . is a man's sport. But their eyes have definitely been opened."
Much of the credit for that goes to Cuellar, a former member of Mexico's men's national team who took over the women's program in 1998 and had it in the World Cup a year later.
"He's done a great job with the program," said UCLA Coach Jillian Ellis, whose team played Mexico to a 1-1 tie last week. "It's such a male-dominated sport that socially you have to change the culture a little bit. That's definitely happening with more visibility from the women's team."
Ironically, the expansion of women's sports in the United States has also fueled the growth of women's sports in Mexico. Guadalajara's Lorena Ochoa, for example, the No. 1 women's golfer in the world, honed her skills for two years at the University of Arizona before turning pro. And 10 players on Cuellar's first World Cup team came from U.S. colleges, led by 29-year-old Laurie Hill, who played for UC Santa Barbara and whose mother is Mexican.
