Chile's women's U-17 team lost 3-1 to Mexico in the second round of matches at the World Cup in Morocco. The team took the lead but collapsed in the second half and will enter the final round without a win.
According to La Tercera, the match was played on pitch 4 at the Mohammed VI complex in Salé. Catalina Muñoz, the Colo Colo forward, opened the scoring in the 12th minute. She finished a counterattack after a through ball from Amaral Farías.
Mexico responded before halftime. In the 35th minute, Mia Urbano met a cross from the left and tapped the ball home inside Chile's penalty area to make it 1-1.
The turning point came in the second half. Citlalli Reyes scored to make it 2-1 in a play reviewed by the video system. La Tercera places the goal in the 65th minute and BioBioChile in the 64th. The latter outlet reported that Chile's bench requested a review for a possible offside at the start of the move, but the referee allowed the goal.
With Chile pushing forward in search of an equalizer, Mexico exploited the space and sealed the 3-1 win in the 83rd minute. The sources disagree on the scorer's name: La Tercera identifies her as Tahiel Jiménez and BioBioChile as Nicole Jiménez.
In its opening match, La Roja drew 1-1 with Australia, with Kiara Concha scoring a header. After two matches, Vanessa Arauz's team has one point, with two goals scored and three conceded.
Spain leads Group F with six points and has already secured a place in the round of 16 after beating Mexico 2-0 and Australia 3-1. Mexico has three points, while Chile and Australia have one each. La Roja is ahead of Australia on goal difference.
The tournament brings together 24 teams in six groups. The top two in each group and the four best third-placed teams advance. A win would take Chile to four points and virtually guarantee a place among the best third-placed teams. To finish second, it would also need Mexico to fail to beat Australia. A draw would leave Chile with two points and dependent on results in the other groups.
Chile is seeking its first qualification for a knockout stage at this age level. In its two previous World Cups, Trinidad and Tobago 2010 and India 2022, it exited in the group stage.
The deciding match will be this Sunday at 12:00 against Spain, according to a post on La Roja's official X account. Mexico and Australia will play at the same time.
