The Football Ferns endured a second successive defeat at Mexico's hands on October 26, this time going down 2-0 to their hosts in front of 3217 fans at the Estadio Olimpico Benito Juarez in Ciudad Juarez. As in Mexico City three days earlier, "El Tri Femenil" were on the front foot early, Michaela Foster forced into a vital block just 100 seconds into the game to deny Maria Sanchez, after Alisa Soto had surged onto a loose ball to play in her team-mate, both among the nine changes coach Pedro Lopez made to his starting line-up for this encounter. Five minutes later, Fatima Servin, Soto and the ever-elusive Montserrat Saldivar worked an opening on the left, the last-mentioned's cross flying just beyond Diana Ordonez as she stretched to meet it six yards out from goal. The Football Ferns also made five changes to their starting line-up for this encounter, and one of them, Katie Bowen, combined with Foster to unleash Indiah-Paige Riley down the left in the eighth minute. She confidently took on two opponents before whipping in a cross which only just evaded both Kelli Brown and Gabrielle Rennie, who was making her first start for the team since February 2024. Mexico hit back with two goals in five minutes, the second of which was extremely fortuitous, to put it mildly. Their opener came in the eleventh minute, and won't be a goal which Maya Hahn will remember with great fondness. It was her foul which conceded the free-kick just outside the penalty area. She was then guilty of ball-watching as Sanchez's free-kick curled low round the wall, and by the time Hahn reacted, Ordonez, the player she was marking, had stolen a yard, which was suffice for her to tuck the ball past Esson from the edge of the goal area. 1-0 soon became 2-0, and when your luck is out, goals like this one are the type you concede. Saldivar got the better of Claudia Bunge on the left and fizzed in a low cross which bounced just in front of Esson, forcing her to parry the ball. Sanchez reacted swiftly and fired the ball goalward, only for new Football Ferns captain Kate Taylor to clear off the line. The ball struck Sanchez on the back of the head and ricocheted goalwards, crossing the line before Taylor, who'd ended up in the back of the net, could recover to execute a second goal-line clearance in a matter of seconds. This double blow could have seen heads drop, but the Football Ferns looked to respond straight away. Bunge's teasing eighteenth minute cross invited a glancing header from Brown, which beat debutant goalkeeper Itzel Velasco all ends up, only to hit the inside of the far post and bounce across the face of goal, with Brown unable to turn it home given the presence of Mexican captain Rebeca Bernal, who was focused more on stopping the striker at all costs. Michael Mayne's charges kept on coming, a wayward Velasco clearance finding its way to Riley in the 23rd minute. She weaved past three en route from the left flank before lashing a twenty-five yarder narrowly over the bar. Seconds later, Velasco raced out of her penalty area to clear her lines as Brown pursued a Deven Jackson through ball, while in the 25th minute, Riley was again making in-roads through Mexico's rearguard, her deflected shot being grabbed by Velasco with Brown and Rennie in close proximity. Rennie featured in the Football Ferns' next attack of note, a 37th minute raid which saw her surge into the penalty area before inviting Jackson to let fly on the volley, an effort which was blocked by the covering defence. Back came the Mexicans, Saldivar leading the charge down the left once more, before linking with Ordonez. Taylor thwarted her bid to make it 3-0, prompting a Football Ferns counter-attack in which Hahn, Bowen and Rennie combined with Riley, who got to the by-line before delivering a cross which bisected Brown and Jackson as they raced in on goal. New Zealand continued to press after the interval,

Foster, Hahn and Bowen once more teaming up with Riley, who cut in and let fly, only to see Bernal head her shot over the crossbar. Foster's resulting delivery found its way to Mexican debutant Yvonne Gutierrez, whose pass-back to Velasco forced the 'keeper into a hurried clearance, given Rennie was bearing down on her at a great rate of knots. The Football Ferns carved out a terrific chance in the 54th minute - hands up the number of people who screamed "Why didn't you shoot?" as they watched what unfolded? Foster picked out Riley - a special talent, this lass, as evidenced by the ease with which she swept past two opponents before picking out half-time substitute Katie Kitching through the inside left channel. In even more space inside her was fellow 46th minute introduction Milly Clegg. So much space, in fact, that she could have completed a Sudoku before pulling the trigger! Except she didn't even shoot, instead controlling the ball before passing it into the stride of the well-performed Grace Neville, who, like all watching, was expecting New Zealand's up-and-coming striker to do what should come instinctively to someone in the position Clegg was in. Neville ended up delivering a cross, which was blocked by the covering defenders as her team-mates all looked at "Cleggie" while wondering, like the rest of us, "Why didn't you shoot?" (Head up, kid. Keep believing in yourself and your ability, and make the next one count!) After that scare, Mexico raised their game just shy of the hour mark. Soto got the better of Hahn and played the ball wide to Sanchez, who instantly rewarded the run of the overlapping Gutierrez with a made-to-measure pass. The fullback's cross picked out Ordonez, whose header was grabbed by Esson. The Football Ferns' number one was at it again soon after, denying the same player as she looked to take advantage of some sloppy defending by the visitors, who had failed to deal with Sanchez's deft flick. Back came the Kiwis, Kitching's touch failing her at the vital moment after the just-introduced Emma Pijnenburg and the effervescent Neville had combined to good effect, while Bowen's tantalising 64th minute cross had Velasco doing a passable impersonation of a windmill, with Kitching's resulting corner culminating in Hannah Blake's shot being blocked. There were a number of solid performers in the Football Ferns squad in this game, certainly more so than three days ago, when Riley and Esson made the strongest impressions. And just as the former was making her way to the dugout twelve minutes from time in this encounter, the latter produced a superb one-on-one save which prevented Jacqueline Ovalle from making it 3-0, after Taylor had somehow missed her header to clear Gutierrez's cross. That prompted a brief flurry from the Mexicans, with Jimena Lopez heading narrowly past the far post on receipt of Bernal's angled cross, while Charlene Corral stabbed a shot past the same upright after Ovalle had carved her way to the left-hand by-line. Before the final whistle, Karla Nieto went close with an unchallenged cross-shot which flashed across the face of goal, while Velasco was forced to parry a ferocious twenty-five yarder from Neville to safety, as the Football Ferns kept looking to reduce the deficit of this 2-0 defeat right to the very end. Alas, 'twas not to be for a side which was well served by most in this match - why do we always take a game to get into our groove before we start showing the best version of ourselves? - and which now travels to Kansas City to take on the USA in what is a rare three-match FIFA international window for the Ford Football Ferns. Mexico:     Velasco; Gutierrez, Bernal, Espinoza, Lopez (Reyes, 87); Servin (Farmer, 79), Delgado, Soto (Nieto, 62); Sanchez (Delgadillo, 87), Ordonez (Corral, 62), Saldivar (Ovalle, 62) Football Ferns:     Esson; Bunge, Taylor, Foster (Barry, 59); Neville, Hahn (Pijnenburg, 59), Bowen, Jackson (Kitching, 46); Rennie (Blake, 59), Brown (Clegg, 46), Riley (Hand, 78) Referee:     Belkis Flores (Honduras)