SoccerAmerica - Mexico's Cuellar takes seven Americans 06/14/2011

[WOMEN'S WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN] Mexico is off to Europe to begin final preparations for the Women's World Cup. Coach Leo Cuellar's squad will be one of the youngest at the tournament with six players 20 years old or younger. It features seven Mexican-Americans, including the Stanford duo of Alina Garciamendez and Teresa Noyola.

Goalie Cecilia Santiago is the youngest player on the team at the age of 16.

Other players who played for U.S. colleges include defenders Marlene Sandoval, Natalie Vinti, Natalie Garcia and Monica Alvarado (who has transferred from Mississippi State to TCU) and Veronica Perez, whose goal gave Mexico its historic 2-1 win over the USA at the 2010 Concacaf Championship.

Mexico will play Sweden Thursday in Gothenburg before heading to its base camp in Gottingen, Germany. It will play a local all-star team on Saturday and Australia in a closed-door match on Monday.

The Tri opens against England on June 27.

Germany Roster:
Goalkeepers: Erika Vanegas (no club), Pamela Tajonar (Atl. Malaga, Spain), Cecilia Santiago (Laguna).
Defenders: Kenti Robles (Espanyol, Spain), Marlene Sandoval (no club), Alina Garciamendez (Stanford Univ.), Natalie Vinti (no club), Natalie Garcia (Univ. of San Diego), Luz Del Rosario Saucedo (no club), Monica Alvarado (Texas Christian Univ.).
Midfielders: Evelyn Lopez (no club), Guadalupe Worbis (Itesem Puebla), Dinora Garza (UANL), Nayeli Rangel (UANL), Liliana Mercado (UDLA), Teresa Noyola (Stanford Univ.).
Forwards: Maribel Dominguez (L'estartit), Veronica Perez (no club), Sandra Stephany Mayor (UDLA), Charlyn Corral (Itesem Monterrey), Monica Ocampo (no club).

10 comments

Margaret Manning

commented on: June 15, 2011 at 9:31 a.m.

Nice to know that we are providing Stanford educations to American citizens who chose to play for another country in the World Cup--unless I'm mistaken and Mexico is paying their way.

Jamie Nicewander

commented on: June 15, 2011 at 12:37 p.m.

Margaret Manning-I am willing to bet that these young ladies are actually American citizens who have a parent/relation (FIFA rules permit this)that allows them to play for the Mexican national team. These young ladies are playing for another country because their native country didn't pick them. It begs a better question..how did these young ladies slip through the American Scouting system (ooops we don't have one) and not get called up to the u.S. national team? Maybe they did, maybe they didn't...that would be a burning question on my mind though. I wish them luck and too bad I can't watch their games on t.v.. Bummer.

Carlos Santana

commented on: June 15, 2011 at 1:06 p.m.

Jamie, that is perfectly put. Unfortunately, just like on the mens side, some very good Americans are slipping through the cracks.

Ric Fonseca

commented on: June 15, 2011 at 3:01 p.m.

To Margaret Manning: Please re-read Jamie Nicewater and Carlos Santana's comments as the answer to your statement is crystal clear: Time and again, the questions requires simple clarification as now BOTH

Ric Fonseca

commented on: June 15, 2011 at 3:09 p.m.

continued from above: men and women players have been slipping through the US system, and even when they supposedly (US Soccer) had a "scouting system" in place, now almost ten years ago, players were actually slipping through the non-existent system. And yet here we have an article by a respectable SA article iether trying to decry the fact that Leo Cuellar Mexico's Women's NT Coach has identified players with dual citizenship/nationality opt to play for Mexico, while on the other hand others will decry and say that the US is actually training other countries' players - much akin to the recently MVP crowned Dirk Nowiski, of German birth, trained in the US university basketball system, to only later play for the German Basketball NT, and then decry this factoid. However, I will go even further in saying that the young ladies in question were not called up to the USNT in keeping with the accepted norm like the men's NT.

Luis Arreola

commented on: June 15, 2011 at 4:01 p.m.

Ric, I keep yelling all the Hispanic players with talent to develop in the USA youth programs and at 13+ got to you're native country for a fair opportunity. Its the truth. Until USA smartens up and does things differently and admits to the fact that Hispanics dominate this sport on these 2 continents and try to learn from them instead of trying to find ways to hold them back it will be the same as it is now.

Margaret Manning

commented on: June 15, 2011 at 6:53 p.m.

I know they are American citizens. The story says so. It also says that they are playing against the USA in the World Cup. Pardon my old-fashioned notions of citizenship. And yes, I had the same objection to the kid from New Jersey who did the same thing for Italy.

luis

commented on: June 15, 2011 at 7:25 p.m.

Margaret, what should these girls do then if the opportunity is NY given to them here, beg? The better players should and are pursued. USA needs to put people in charge that will only pursue the best talent without trying to prove something else.

Luis Arreola

commented on: June 17, 2011 at 3:15 p.m.

Lets see. 7 Mexican American players on Mexico team. Last 2 games vs USA 1-1 with a minimal scoring difference. Easy Math. Easy conclusion. Mexican American players are being purposely overlooked by USA directives. Mexican Women's program almost nonexistent. Wake up USA!!

david saizar

commented on: October 17, 2012 at 1:51 p.m.

Margaret, jamie, Luis and all - There are many reason why players are looking to our neighbor for playing opportunities. I'll give you my daughter's story as an example of one. She is a top player on one of the top ECNL teams in SoCal yet she continues to get passed up by ODP and other scouting bodies. It seems like these scouts made their list of choice players in U10 and kept going with it - she wasn't on it. To make matters worse, there are no open try outs for any of the national teams in socal. Wait…there are open tryouts. The Mexican national teams hold open tryouts. In CA! Hmm…she would be allowed to participate using my citizenship? Why would I deny her an opportunity to explore playing at an international level? After all, it's us, the parents, that are forking the bill for her development in soccer. Heck! Even the folks with kids in ODP pay for their kids to be there and it's not cheap! What about the stars that cannot afford it? No room for them. Backwards to how other country's (mainly boys)programs work. Eventually we do bring up some pretty athletic players and are able to find success(that's just the US way) but IMO we're not even close when it comes to finding the best soccer players this country has.

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