FOXBOROUGH - After watching his team struggle in its first two Women's World Cup matches, Mexican coach Leonardo Cuellar said he needed his team to ''come back to the World Cup'' because he noticed in practice that the players weren't ''there.'' In other words, he needed them to refocus and regain concentration after lopsided losses to Brazil and Germany.
Mexico was ''there'' against Italy yesterday at Foxboro Stadium. But despite their ''presence,'' the Mexicans were unable to get off the World Cup schneid, losing to the Italians, 2-0.
The Mexicans played inspired team defense, contesting every shot and fighting for every loose ball. But their tenacity was not enough as the Italians continuously exploited the Mexicans' lack of speed and created space and scoring opportunities near the net.
Italy took the lead in the 37th minute when forward Patrizia Panico fought off Mexico's Paty Perez outside the box and fired a shot to the back of the net past a diving Lenny Quinones.
In the 51st minute, the Italians got an insurance goal. Paola Zanni gained possession on the left side of the box, gathered herself, then fired a perfect shot just below the crossbar and above the outstretched hand of Quinones.
''This was a rather slow-paced match,'' Italian defender Anna Duo said through interpreter Mario Rimati. ''We came from two matches where we gave quite a lot. This one was probably the most tiring. On a technical plane, we were just better. We managed to overcome them.''
Italy overcame Mexico but could not overcome the disappointing news it received before the game: Regardless of the outcome, it would not go on to the quarterfinals. The victory gave Italy a respectable 1-1-1 record in Group B play, while Mexico finished last in the 16-team tournament with a minus-14 goal differential. The Italians were eliminated from World Cup contention when Brazil and Germany played to a 3-3 tie at Landover, Md.
Knowing that they had no chance of advancing undoubtedly had a negative effect on the Italians. ''Unfortunately, we reached this match without a lot of motivation,'' defender Adele Frollani said. ''We already knew the result of the other match. They put us in a difficult group, probably the toughest.''
The loss was something of a moral victory for the 15-month old Mexican women's soccer program. In two previous games, Mexico had been outscored, 13-1, and attempted one corner kick. Yesterday the Mexicans seemed determined to finish their first trip to the Women's World Cup on a positive note. Forwards Maribel Dominguez and Gina Oceguera combined for all four of Mexico's shots on goal. Mexico had six corner kicks (all in the first half) and took eight shots - four times as many as the team took against Germany Thursday.
''We weren't really concerned with winning or losing,'' said Quinones, a goalkeeper at San Diego State. Quinones, strong throughout the tournament, had 11 saves. ''We came out with the mentality that we were going to play as well as possible and play as well as we could this game and leave everything out on the field.''
