France 2018, Liga MX’s biggest challenge yet

Women’s Liga MX will face one of its biggest challenges miles away from the stadiums and fields where the 18 teams play.

This weekend the U20 Mexican National Team travelled to France to play the World Cup, where they’re expected to make it at least until quarterfinals, but in reality seeking semifinals for the first time.

Why is Liga MX’s performance at stake?

When the league was announced in December of 2016, one of its main purposes was to create players that could improve the level of the Mexican National Teams.

Teams have a U23 base with only four players exceeding this age limit. When building their squads, many clubs sought footballers who were even younger – around 19 to 21 years-old – in order to avoid them from being cut shortly after due to age restrictions (little did they know the age limit would be increased to U24 a year later).

Before the league, national team coaches called up players from amateur clubs, universities in the USA and some teams in Europe.

Now they can pick footballers that have competitive activity every week, which they can – usually – follow live as well (about half of the league’s games are transmitted through tv or social media).

El Tri will play the U20 World Cup with 11 Liga MX players out of 21. You could also add Alexia Delgado, who just left the league to play in a US college.

That team already made history by winning its first-ever Concacaf U20 championship against the USA early this year, however, like all Mexican national squads, success is measured by performance in the World Cup.

Photo: @MiSeleccionMX

Adriana Terrazas