2004 Olympics: Soccer

11:36 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 18, 2004

By JEFF MILLER / The Dallas Morning News

ATHENS, Greece – It figures that Plano East grad Monica Gonzalez, as the tallest player on the Mexican women's soccer team, would set high goals.

Mexico surprised most soccer watchers by qualifying for its first women's Olympic tournament this year and Monday night avoided being one of the two teams eliminated before the quarterfinals. It did so by following its 1-1 tie last week against China, ranked fifth in the world, with a 2-0 loss to No. 1 Germany.

Since Germany embarrassed China in the other group game, 8-0, Mexico finished second among the three teams and earned a date against Brazil on Saturday. Gonzalez, defender and team captain, doesn't consider that a morale victory.

"If I don't go home with a medal, I won't be satisfied," said the 5-10 Gonzalez, who grew up in Richardson and now lives in San Francisco.

Confidence and Mexican women's soccer haven't been compatible terms until recently. The women's national team only started in 1998, well behind most of its counterparts. The scorecard before this year was bleak. Mexico qualified for the '99 Women's World Cup but was outscored 15-1 in three losses. It then failed to reach the 2000 Sydney Games or last year's Women's World Cup.

Few thought the Mexicans would be booking flights to Greece through CONCACAF qualifying. But they stunned Canada in the semifinals to clinch one of the region's two berths. They actually led the United States at halftime of the final, 2-0, before losing, 3-2.

Mexico is 26th in the latest quarterly rankings by FIFA, one notch below its best placement three months ago. The first-round meetings with Germany and China gave Mexico the toughest first-round schedule in Athens.

And when Mexican coach Leonardo Cuellar revealed the draw to his players?

"I was the only one that cheered, kind of like the bad kid in the back of the class," said Gonzalez, who was born in Corpus Christi and moved to Richardson when she was 4. "I got some bad looks.

"Those were probably the two worst teams we could have gotten because we haven't played them in a long, long time. But we realized if we're going to win a medal, we have to beat everyone anyways. So, why not now?"

At 25, Gonzalez is the oldest player on the team and called abuela – the Spanish word for grandmother. But she doesn't plan to trade in her cleats for a rocker anytime soon.

"You look at [the United States'] Brandi Chastain; she's still enjoying it at 36," Gonzalez said. "I'm the oldest one on the team, 11 years younger than the oldest player on the U.S. team. That just speaks volumes how much we've matured in so little time."

E-mail jmiller@dallasnews.com