User:Pattyg10/Mexico Women's National Soccer Team

Mexico Women's National Soccer Team The Mexico Women's National Soccer Team (sometimes referred to as Las Tri) represents Mexico in international women's soccer competition and is controlled by La Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (Mexico Football Federation). The team was officially started before the 1999 Women's World Cup and was composed of Mexican and Mexican-American players. The main goal for the team was to qualify for their first World Cup. Since then, the team has developed and is now ranked 21st in the Women's FIFA World Ranking. One of the big advantages the team has compared to all others is that they have had one coach, Leonardo Cuéllar for the past 14 years, which is rare to see in a national team from Mexico.

History
The first official coach for the Mexico Women’s National Soccer Team was Coach Leonardo Cuéllar. One of his main goals when first establishing the team was to qualify for the 1999 Women’s World Cup, which the team was able to do. After finding a coach to begin the team, controversy soon began regarding the nationality of the players being recruited. Many people in Mexico argued that Mexican-American girls should not be allowed to play on the team because they were taking a spot away from a full Mexican player. The team captain, Andrea Rodebaugh, argued that the team’s main goal was to qualify and said that to them it did not matter who was on the team as long as the team was formed. The National Team was formed despite the controversy and consisted of Mexican and Mexican-American players.

Culture & Language Barriers
The team has encountered several difficulties since their formation. The players had to learn to play together and become a team despite the different views on the culture between the Mexican-Americans and the Mexicans. At the beginning, the division was apparent: all the Mexicans roomed together and all the Americans roomed together; however, with time the team became more integrated. The culture was also a barrier the team had to overcome. For many Mexican girls, playing soccer in general was not thought of highly in Mexican families because it was referred to as a male sport, so the team was not receiving as much support as they would have liked and needed. However, with time the accomplishments they did were covered by the news and the support grew. Even to this day the team is glorified by the media for the improvements they continue to do. Despite there being two dominate languages on the team, the players have managed to overcome the boundary and a lot of the Americans speak better Spanish now and vice versa. At practices, both languages are used, but when cameras are on, Spanish is used more so the people from Mexico can understand what is going on.

Kit
The Mexican national team utilizes a tricolour system, composed of the colors green, white and red. The team's three colors originated from Mexico's national flag, known as the tricolor. Currently the kit being used 2011-2012 is a green jersey for home and a black with gold jersey for away. Sewn on the inside collar of both jerseys is the Mexican saying somos guerreros meaning "we are warriors".

Records
===Team for 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup ===

CONCACAF Gold Cup Records

 * *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

World Cup Records

 * *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.