Palacios Powers Mexico into Quarterfinal Showdown with U.S.
November 09, 2016 | Women's Soccer
Port Moresby, PNG --- Papua New Guinea.
This is the site of the under-20 Women's World Cup comprised of 16 nations that begins November 13 and stretches through the championship on December 3.
It's the 54th-largest country in the world, the 102nd-largest in terms of population, and just recently became an independent nation in 1975. The equatorial island houses rainforests, experiences snowfall, and lies in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" giving it a little bit of everything.
The capital, Port Moresby, is the epicenter of activity holding as many people as the next nine biggest cities in the country as it lies on the southern edge of the peninsula known as the "Bird's Tail" along the Coral Sea.
And this is where Kiana Palacios will be.
"I have no idea about Papua New Guinea," Palacios joked as she nervously laughed about the upcoming tournament. She left for Mexico on Monday, Oct. 17, the day following a UC Irvine loss to CSUN, where she would head to Mexico and train with the squad and play a few test matches. "Mexican coaches are really nice and fun, but also competitive." Her under-20 squad is led by Roberto Medina, a former player that spent time with club team, Monterrey, and was a member of Mexico's 1998 Gold Cup-winning squad.
Palacios and her mates train in Mexico every month for 2-3 weeks, often times alongside the senior national team members for the men and women, but rarely do they communicate.
"The altitude is the worst part," she noted comparing it to wearing a weight jacket while playing, "but otherwise, the facilities are really nice." Palacios will compete in her final tournament with the under-20 squad after joining them two years ago.
"My senior year of high school, I knew someone that played with Mexico on the younger team. So I would always ask her 'how do I get there?' When I came to UCI, Scott asked me what my dream was, and I told him it was to play on the Mexican National Team."
Palacios embarked on her dream later on that freshman season when they held tryouts nearby in Cerritos. "There was about 300 girls there, and they picked three girls and I was one of them."
This is a fairly commonplace in the Mexican system as Palacios mentioned that most of the recruiting in Mexico is done by scouting and is unlike the American system. "Coaches get YouTube videos from girls from all over the country all the time, or maybe just by word of mouth, and they will invite the ones that stand out to come play and tryout." She mentioned there's always 2-3 or three new faces in camp, much like she was from Cerritos, and the squad continues to grow and form through that.
She's been a driving force for the team whether it has been friendlies or competitive tournaments like the qualifiers in Honduras to earn a spot in the World Cup. She was named to the tournament's Best XI as the only representative from Mexico while the team finished in third place. "I wouldn't say I'm a leader, but I feel like my teammates look up to me to get the job done up top."
"Kiana has grown in so many ways during her time as an Anteater and we are excited to follow her progress on this new adventure," added a proud head coach, Scott Juniper. "If she continues to develop on this path, Kiana should set her sights on the full Mexican National Team, future World Cups, and Olympic Games."
Now two years into the program, Palacios and her teammates have created a bond that has taken them to their highest level, and believe this is the beginning of something more. "Our coach recently talked to us about playing with the national team like 'you guys, right now, are basically the main team'." The senior national team just completed their World Cup, and a lot of players will be moving on. It's another part of the Mexican soccer system – grooming its youth national team to step right in and be that next generation. "They tell us 'this is your last chance to prove yourself to get called to the main team'. There's a lot of us where this is our last thing, the u20 World Cup, so we all have to give it all we've got because it's all of our dreams."
The dreams are becoming more and more real as Palacios and the team flew to the other side of the map and New Zealand where the team would train some more and play against some European club teams.
"It's the longest flight I'm ever going to take. I guess I can do some homework."
Another layer to Palacios' trying junior year at UC Irvine. She's had to keep up her schoolwork while splitting seasons between her collegiate and international duties. "I have to take all online classes because of the school I can't attend."
The education major wants to teach and help children with special needs, but is putting that temporarily on hold at the moment. "My education classes require me to go to class, and I obviously can't if I'm in another country." Palacios' remedy was to knock out all her breadth requirements which allow for online enrollment, so she's tackling classes like public health 1 and Chicano Latino studies. "The other day I was at home and was sitting there like 'what do I do?'" Palacios joked at the fact that she had no classes she had to attend during her weekly day off of training.
She will continue her studies all along the way while most everything else is provided and regimented out. The team wakes up to train at 7:30 a.m. during its training in Mexico which is an hour off of the time she's used to on the west coast. The main difference, and what Kiana will miss the most, is the food. "There's a nutritionist with the team, and they are watching everything we put on our plate. You go get a salad, and they're watching. Then you get your soup, then the meal with rice, chicken, fish, and veggies. Breakfast is fruit and protein or maybe a turkey sandwich." Her biggest struggle is dessert which is "really tiny, and only at lunch time. None at night, and it's usually half a cookie or a small ice cream scoop."
Palacios may miss the food, but nowhere near as much as she will miss her teammates and making a postseason run with them.
"Our team has gotten a lot closer this year. We're comfortable. There's no cliques or anything, everybody's together, and we're all hungry. We all want to win." So maybe there is something between hunger to win at UCI and concern over missing the food while she's away. Her teammates will miss her just as much. "Some of the girls are like 'why do you have to leave us?!' and I'm like 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
The team has bonded together and not missed a beat since Palacios' departure, but as coach Juniper knows, it's never easy losing a player that not only led your team in scoring, but the entire nation at one point. "As disappointing as it was to lose our leading goal-scorer for the last couple of weeks of the season, we are all very proud of what Kiana has achieved. She is the fifth Anteater to participate in a FIFA U20 World Cup since 2010, and that is something very special to celebrate for everyone at UC Irvine."
Palacios mentioned that the scoring mark was never really on her mind, and some of the goals were "so random" that even had her asking herself "how does that even happen?" But leave it to her family to be the ones that bring it all home. "It was really cool. When my dad sent that to me, then I was like you're right, this is special."
She even needs them to remind her how big of a deal this tournament is. She constantly gets messages from her family, and her cousins are always reaching out to her telling her she's their role model. Most of her family is with her in the U.S., but some of her family remains in Mexico in a small town called Guanajuato, about five hours from Mexico City. "My grandpa knows everyone, it's that small, and he is planning a huge party for the next time I go visit." Palacios says her parents and sister plan on going to the tournament, but isn't sure how much she'll see them outside of the actual matches. "We may get two days off while we're there," something Palacios says she will take advantage of by trying to see the crystal clear ocean she's heard is there. "It's exciting, and it's going by fast."
She has prepared for what she might see on and off the field from the qualifiers in Honduras where the fields were very thick and the air was as well. She's seen better and worse fields throughout her collegiate road trips, and plays on what she says is the perfect length pitch in Anteater Stadium. Palacios has even gone as far to compare the fresh sod of Microsemi Field that was laid for the Rams training camp to that of which they train on in Mexico. On all turfs and in all conditions, Palacios has proven herself. Her biggest challenge might be off the field.
"I can't get away with any English. They want us to speak Spanish all the time." Palacios was born and raised in the states, and while she knew some Spanish when she was younger, it doesn't come as easily anymore. "It's hard because the Americans on the team, we think it's weird speaking Spanish. We grew up learning English." All of the communication on the pitch and in interviews around the match are to be in Spanish which Kiana says she works at with more and more time with the national team. "It's getting better, it's not the best, but my coach sometimes tries to speak to me in English," as she tries to bridge the gap and teach the Spanish speakers English while she learns Spanish.
A skill she will definitely need to hone should she continue on with the national team, something she wants to do along with any professional opportunities that might arise.
The final stage of her climb to the national level begins on November 14 with the opening match for "El Tri Fem" as they match up with South Korea. They will also play the rest of its group in Germany and Venezuela, and try to finish in the top two of their group to advance to the knockout stage.
Fans can follow Kiana along with us at ucirvinesports.com and the team's social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter. More information will become available as the tournament nears in terms of any viewing capabilities and ways to follow the matches.
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup – Papua New Guinea
| Team | W | D | L | Pts | GD |
| Germany | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | +7 |
| Mexico | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | +1 |
| Korea Republic | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | -1 |
| Venezuela | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -6 |
Monday, November 14
Mexico 2-0 Korea Republic
Palacios - goal in 89th minute
Wednesday, November 16
Mexico 0-3 Germany
Monday, November 21 (named Player of the Match)
Mexico 3-2 Venezuela
Palacios - goal in 4th minute
Palacios - goal in 10th minute
Knockout Round
Quarterfinal
Thursday, November 24
Mexico 1-2 United States
Mexico eliminated
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