Rival semi-final coaches Rhian Wilkinson and Monica Vergara hugged at the end of their press conference. They respect each other and know that the duel between Canada and Mexico is an important event for central and north American female football.
“It’s exciting for us and for Mexico,” said Wilkinson, “being two CONCACAF teams. We know each other well so I haven’t really said very much at all to my players apart, from, if anything, to keep them calm and be prepared because this is the semi-final of the World Cup.
“It’s huge for our Confederation that one team will be in the finals. For a long time CONCACAF relied on the United States to be the main team but that wasn’t there in this tournament so the fact that two other teams are coming up to promote the region is huge”.
The two teams met on June 10 in the semi-finals of the CONCACAF qualifiers. Mexico won 2-1 but for Wilkinson that is not a problem. She said: “We know how strong they are as a team and I don’t know if it makes easier but we definitely don’t worry.”
The players are all fit so the coach wants to protect them from stress, saying: “You don’t know how young people react to stress and pressure and while we have talked about being in the finals, belief grows in a tournament with every single game”.
Wilkinson met Vergara in a FIFA coaching mentorship programme and was grateful for the opportunity.
She said: “First I think our associations did a great job promoting us within our countries, so both of us were former players and our associations give us opportunities as coaches.
“Our confederation and FIFA recently developed this mentorship programme, paired us with experienced senior coaches to help guide us. So we met each other and got friendly, so it’s been a wonderful addition to my coaching journey to know people going through the same thing and have the support of women and men in the same kind of work.”
Another important aspect was her own playing career which has assisted her in building a relationship with her young players.
Wilkinson said: “It gives you a huge advantage at the beginning of your career because they trust you from remembering you as a player. They remember watching you as a player and going to the stadium to see you so definitely it’s giving me a head start and I do my best.”
