Florida State Seminoles forward Jordynn Dudley’s persistence allowed the United States to beat Mexico 3-2 and advance to the quarterfinals of the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia, where they await a rival between Germany and Argentina.
The 19-year-old striker broke the deadlock in the 98th minute at Bogota’s El Campin stadium, where her team took the lead twice with goals from Pietra Tordin and Ally Sentnor, but saw their rivals equalize on both occasions with goals from wingers Valerie Vargas and Montserrat Saldivar.
The USWNT came out swinging, led by midfielder Claire Hutton, who became a partner to her teammates. The first clear chance came in the 5th minute when Sentnor’s shot was cleared by a defender off the line.
Also Read: Mauricio Pochettino is the New Coach of the United States National Soccer Team
However, the goal was not long in coming and in the 10th minute the winger Emeri Adames launched a mid-height cross that was caught by the top scorer Tordin, who deflected the ball and thus reached her fourth goal in the championship.
The Americans maintained their dominance and even came close to scoring, but Saldivar appeared for the first time in the match in the 22nd minute to, in a lethal counterattack, send a cross from the left to the other side of the area that reached Vargas, who with a left-footed shot overcame the resistance of Teagan Wy, who until that moment was just another spectator.
The match was balanced, although Tracey Kevins’ team regained the lead very quickly, just five minutes later, when Sentnor received the ball outside the area, found a gap between two opponents, and unleashed a powerful shot that hung goalkeeper Renatta Cota.
The back-and-forth continued. In that context, Mexico tied the game again at 39 when midfielder Alice Soto sent a through ball to Montserrat, who received it on the left flank, got away from full-back Savannah King in the area, and fired a right-footed shot that was impossible for Wy to stop.
In the second half, the USWNT regained control and a great team play ended with a through ball from Sentnor to Tordin, who sent the ball home past Cota. However, the goal was disallowed after a review request from Mexico due to an offside by winger Gisele Thompson at the start of the play.
The game was lost, but both teams came back to life in the final minutes, a back-and-forth affair in which either of the two could have taken the victory.
First, it was a long-range shot from Leah Klenke that was saved with great effort by the Mexican goalkeeper, whose team responded with a shot from Soto that crashed off the crossbar.
Then, in a very good collective play, the attacker Dudley who entered in the final minutes took a backheel shot that was saved brilliantly by Cota on an unforgettable night for her.
The match went into overtime and the Americans continued to attack the Mexicans, who were clearly tired at this point in the match.
The USWNT took advantage of this and made it 2-3 in the 98th minute when a mistake by midfielder Yareli Valadez in the exit left the ball to her rivals and midfielder Yuna McCormack set up Dudley, who entered the area and overcame the resistance of Cota, who on this occasion could do nothing to prevent the celebration.
In the second half of extra time, center-back Natalia Colin brought down Maddie Dahlien in the area, and after reviewing the video, the referee blew the whistle for a penalty, which was saved by Mexican goalkeeper Mariangela Medina, who replaced the injured Cota, to keep her team’s hopes alive.
However, the Tri’s exhaustion was evident at the end of the game, in which they did not reach Wy’s goal again and said goodbye to a tournament in which they dreamed big but were eliminated in the round of 16 against their most bitter rival.
