Taiwan’s women’s team were comprehensively beaten in their opening Pintar Cup game after a swaggering offensive showing by Mexico. El Tri Femenil looked assured in possession from start to finish and the scoreline was an honest reflection of their dominance.

Indeed, Mexico started strongly and took the lead within the first ten minutes. With Taiwan sitting deep, Mexico had time to pass the ball among their back line and look for openings. Having pushed and probed, the latter finally found an opening and moved decisively. Bringing the ball out of defense, Kimberley Rodriguez’s pass cut through two lines of Taiwan’s low block and found Montserrat Saldívar out on the left.

Having made a smart run to the sideline, Alice Soto then received the ball slightly outside the penalty box. At that moment, Taiwan’s players were assuming a cross was coming, only for Soto to shoot at goal from a tough angle. Indeed, the effort completely outfoxed Taiwan’s keeper, Wang Yu-ting, who could only watch the ball sail into the net.

Only Soto will know for sure if it was a miss-hit cross or a shot but replays suggest the highly touted teenager was shaping up to fire at goal. Either way Mexico had the lead.

Mexico continued to put their foot on the gas for most of the first half. Taiwan had set themselves up defensively and seemed content to try to catch their opponents on the counter. It was a calculated gamble based on the quality of the Mexican roster but having defended well for twenty-minutes, disaster struck before half time.

Having repelled a corner from the right hand side, Taiwan assumed the ball had gone out and stopped playing. But the referee thought otherwise and let play continue. With almost every Taiwanese player standing still, the ball was knocked back to Fátima Servín, who coolly fired home for an easy goal.

To their credit, Taiwan continued to fight hard and at times played some neat, tidy football. But for all their ambition, Taiwan were struggling to adapt to the intensity of Mexico’s high pressing defense. Every promising passage of play would eventually get snuffed out by a forced turnover or an uncompromising Mexican tackle.

The third goal from Mexico was coming and it was inevitably one of high quality. Having boxed Taiwan in near the halfway line, Mexico’s high press forced Wu Kai-ching to make a risky pass across the middle. It was Wu’s only way out of danger but it was also a trap. Although Matsunaga Sahime was able to control the ball, she was swiftly tackled by Saldivar. There was still work to do but the winger danced through the Taiwanese backline before finishing empathically.

Having set-up one goal and scored another, Saldivar still wasn’t done. With twenty minutes left to play, Taiwan filled their own box to try and repel yet another Mexico corner. But having overplayed their hand, they could only watch as Mexico simply played the ball short to Mayra Pelayo-Bernal.

Taiwan had set themselves up for an out-swinging corner but were outfoxed by the Mexico feint. It was a slight difference but Pelayo-Bernal’s in-swinging cross caught Taiwan napping. Alert to the chaos, Saldivar was waiting on the edge of the six-yard box to poke the ball past Wang.

Taiwan played out the rest of the game without further damage to the score sheet but it wasn’t easy. Myra Delgadillo should have scored from close range but rushed her shot thanks to some last second defending from Chen Ying-hui. Lizbeth Ovalle then flashed a shot just wide a few minutes later. Saldivar probably should have converted her hat-trick but headed over after being left unmarked in box.

In the end, Mexico ran out easy victors. Technically and mentally, there were the better team.

By contrast, Taiwan will need to go back to the drawing board. When they played with their heads up, the Mulan passed and moved with confidence. Matsunaga Sahime, playing in her first game for Taiwan, looked especially assured in the middle.

But there simply wasn’t the required ruthlessness in the final-third of the field. Almost every time the ball got into the Mexican half, Taiwan turned the ball over or tried to go long. The Mexican players had quickly realized how toothless the Taiwan attack was and had no fear about jumping out of position to get the ball back. At one point, Su Yu-hsuan could be seen jerking her head back and forth in frustration. It neatly summed up the game for Taiwan, who tried hard but fell badly short.

Photo Credit: Mexican Football Federation