ALAJUELA — Alyssa McLeod scored in a losing cause Thursday as sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ fell 3-1 to Mexico in its final group game at the CONCACAF Girl's U-15 Championship.
Both teams had already qualified for the semifinals, with the Canadians downing Puerto Rico and El Salvador by identical 1-0 scores in earlier Group B play.
Evelyn Contreras scored all three goals for Mexico, in the 25th, 48th and 53rd minutes. McLeod, assisted by Myla Ewasiuk, replied in the 52nd minute.
sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ will face the unbeaten U.S. in Friday's semifinal.
The Canadians lost 4-1 to the U.S. in the League A final at the last CONCACAF U-15 Championship in 2022 in Tampa, Fla. The Americans also won in 2016 and 2018.
The fifth edition of the tournament, which runs through Sunday, features a record 34 CONCACAF teams. The competition is split between three host countries with Costa Rica staging League A and Trinidad and Tobago and Aruba hosting League B and C, respectively.
sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ won the tournament in 2014, beating Haiti on penalties in the final, and also finished runner-up in 2016. It failed to reach the semifinals in 2018.
Canadians who have played in the U-15 tournament include Olympic champions Julia Grosso (2014), Jordyn Huitema (2014 and 2016) and Jayde Riviere (2016).
The current Canadian team is coached by Tina Cook.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2024
The Canadian Press