Group F saw their most important fixtures played first, and the meeting of Mexico and Colombia was expected to be the difference between third and fourth place.
With France and England expected to complete a one-two finish, despite the Blues’ 1-0 victory over the Three Lionesses earlier in the day, the Central and South American sides were desperate for three points to potentially see them quality through the third placed ruling, but shared the spoils after an entertaining 1-1 draw.
A spectacular shot from Veronica Perez led Mexican supporters to believe they had secured victory, only for Daniela Montoya to level for Colombia just eight minutes from time. However, with both teams sharing the points, they forced England to sit rock bottom of Group F after the opening set of fixtures.
Colombian goalkeeper Stefany Castano was starting in the World Cup fixture aged just 21-year-old, and was winning only her eighth cap for the national side. And unfortunately, she was caught out late in the first half by a curling effort from Perez who collected a short corner before finding the net from the edge of the pitch.
Despite an uncertainty from whether the goal crossed the line, the inclusion of goal-line technology in this year’s tournament came into full effect as the referee confirmed the goal stood and Mexico celebrated taking the lead.
Yoreli Rincon then almost offered an immediate reply in an end-to-end game, hitting the post with a free-kick as both sides displayed attacking football, not happy for just the one goal.
Mexico looked to have doubled their advantage in the second half as Charlyn Corral’s effort beat Castano but couldn’t beat the referee’s whistle. The 23-year-old was pulled up for handball on the breakaway and subsequently shown a yellow card for firing the ball in to the back of the net.
Nonetheless, the evenly-matched game ended in a fair result, with Montoya’s rocket of a strike bouncing off the underside of the crossbar before crossing the line from 25 yards out.
The two sides will now face the tough tests of England and France, but an upset from either side could see a surprise qualification to the newly acquired knockout rounds, making their first appearance following the recent expansion of the World Cup.
“It’s a draw that feels a bit like a defeat,” Mexico coach Leonardo Cuellar told FIFA after the game.
“We had the situation under control in the first half but lost our way in the second, when Colombia were able to impose their game on us. If my players had been able to reproduce what they’ve been doing in training, the match would have turned out differently.”
