University of Houston Soccer alum Natalie Juncos was named to the Argentina National Team ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup slated for June 7-July 7 in Paris, France.
_ _
“It has always been my dream to represent Argentina in the World Cup, as both my parents were Olympic swimmers for Argentina,” says Juncos. "It is an incredible feeling to be able to fulfill my dream! Especially since I tore my ACL back in August of 2018 after being a starter in six games for the Argentina team at the Copa America.
_ _
“Thinking back on all that I had to overcome in my career, this injury was the biggest upset I’ve had. I was told by several, that it was going to be impossible to recover in such a short period of time at the professional level. However, I was determined to overcome that obstacle and prove people wrong by working extremely hard to get back on the field. After ten months of rehab and training, I was able to make the team again.”
Argentina is in Group D alongside England, Scotland and Japan. The team will open World Cup action on June 10 against Japan at 11 a.m. CT, followed by a matchup against England on June 14 at 2 p.m. CT and Scotland on June 19 at 2 p.m. CT. Games can be viewed on the FOX family of channels (Fox, FS1, FS2).
Argentina is ranked 37th in the world
Others in their group:
England -3rd
Japan - 7th
Scotland - 20th
Argentina went 0-1-2 in their 3 games to finish 3rd in their Group. They still have a chance to advance, but will have to wait and see at this point.
As a surefire win turned into a 3-3 draw, Scotland’s total points from its group stage matches dropped from three points to just one, eliminating them from the tournament. Argentina is unlikely to advance either, but for a nation that hadn’t even tied a match at the World Cup, they’ve done their nation proud by pulling off the grandest comeback in tournament history. And the ripples were felt around the world. While the men’s World Cup sends just two teams from each four-team group to the knockout stages, the women’s edition sends the top two teams plus the four highest-placed third-place finishers from all groups. Thanks to Argentina’s draw, Cameroon, New Zealand, Chile, and Thailand still have hopes of advancing. (Thailand doesn’t have very good hopes, but they’re hopes nonetheless.)