Fort Worth, TX - Central sophomore
Bella Martinez made big waves last week when she was selected to the Under-17 Mexican Youth National Team. While it forced her to miss the Lady Chargers second round playoff game against Odessa Permian, Martinez couldn't pass up the opportunity to travel to France with El Tri to face France, Japan, and Portugal's U-17 Youth
National Teams.
El Tri will be playing in the world famous
Modial Football Montaigu, which has featured some of the worlds best players including
Cristiano Ronaldo,
Kylian Mbappé,
Andrea Pirlo, and
Thierry Henry, just to name a few. As members of group E, Mexico will play the hosts France, currently ranked 5th in the latest FIFA rankings, April 3 and 11th ranked Japan April 5.
Each team will play the other teams in its group once, plus one game against a team in another group that will not count in the tournament standings. The group winners will play for the championship, the two second-place finishers will play for third and the two third-place finishers will play for fifth.
Mexico came in at No. 34 in latest FIFA rankings, the second highest ranked CONCACAF team, two spots ahead of No. 36 Costa Rica
Martinez's selection to the 20 player squad highlights her as one of the best players eligible to play for Mexico in her age group. As a member of DFW's premier youth soccer setup,
FC Dallas, Bella is joined by two other DFW based players, Tessa Arreloa, a fellow member of
FC Dallas, and Abigal Santos from
D'Feeters Kicks Soccer Club.
As the first Lady Charger to be selected to a youth national team in the programs history, Head Coach Lauren McMillian wasn't surprised that Martinez was selected saying "Bella deserves this recognition and achievement. She is a leader on and off the field and serves as our creative play maker." McMillian added "her composure and field awareness is opportunistic for LCS as her play helped led us to earning a spot in the playoffs."
Keller ISD Athletics offers sports programs that help develop the whole student through athletics. KISD athletics programs will provide student-athletes opportunities to experience competition, leadership roles, self-improvement, goal setting, discipline, coachability, learning from setbacks, accountability, enhance academics, developing positive character traits, and being part of a team. In partnership with families and community, the mission of Central High School is to inspire in all students the desire to learn, the courage to lead, the value of proven character, and the commitment to serve. More information about Central and its coaches, student-athletes and teams is available at
Centralchargerathletics.com
