Women’s international friendly match preview: México vs. Perú

Game: México vs. Perú

Date: Saturday, June 25th

Time: 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 8:00 p.m. Central, 6:00 p.m. Pacific, 1:00 a.m. UTC

Venue: Estadio Corona TSM (Torreón, Coah.)

Television: None

Streaming: ViX (United States, México, Latin America)

All-time record: This will be the first time the teams have ever met. The only other CONMEBOL teams México haven’t met yet are Bolivia and Uruguay.

Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images

México begins its final tune-up in preparation of the 2022 Concacaf W Championship with a pair of friendlies in Torreón against Perú. Mónica Vergara will most likely use the two matches to ensure her team is ready to take on their continental rivals with World Cup and Olympic berths on the line.

Vergara’s 23 player roster is about as close to the best as it could be, although there have been (very fair) questions about the exclusion of Charlyn Corral. México will still have plenty of offensive firepower, with Katty Martínez, Stephany Mayor, Myra Delgadillo, Jackie Ovalle, Carolina Jaramillo, and Diana Ordóñez all able to threaten offensively.

Defensively, México has looked solid as well. There was a late scratch, with Rayadas goalkeeper Alejandría “Alex” Godínez being replaced with Pumas goalkeeper Melany Villeda after the former picked up an injury. Villeda will most likely be backing up Emily Alvarado and Itzel González, with Alvarado expected to be the team’s number one going into the Concacaf W Championship.

Perú are a bit of an unknown quantity. Alexandra Kimball of the North Carolina Courage is one of only a handful of players playing professionally outside of Perú, joining Claudia Domínguez of Atlético de Madrid, Claudia Cagnina of Sandvikens, and Pierina Núñez of Real Betis on the national team. They’re also joined by NCAA players Mía Shalit of Sacramento University, Braelynn Llamoca of University of California – Riverside, Grace Cagnina of Long Island University, Teresa Wowk of Kennesaw State University, and Ariana Muñoz of North Florida University.

Perú isn’t the strongest of teams, but matches like these are important to build team cohesion and test themselves against much stronger opponents. According to Soccerway, Perú hasn’t won since beating Bolivia in the 2006 Copa América Femenina. Since then they’ve drawn five and lost eighteen games, mostly against fellow CONMEBOL opponents. In 2021 they lost once and drew once in two separate friendly series against Ecuador and Paraguay.

México will still need to take their opponents seriously and not lose sight of the task at hand. They’ll need to get important players minutes together while looking to minimize risk of injuries. Getting a favorable score line in front of their fans in Territorio Santos Modelo is important of course, but what will serve them better in the long run is making sure they can execute their plays and convert opportunities.