Tuesday, October 31th, 2023.- Forward Rebeca Fernández reaffirmed herself as one of the standout figures in female football at Pan American level with a brace in Paraguay's victory over Costa Rica at the Estadio Sausalito in Viña del Mar. This win secured the fifth-place position for the Paraguayan team in the female football tournament at Santiago 2023.

The top scorer from the Universidad de Chile felt right at home against the Central American opponents. Although Emile Valenciano opened the scoring with a header for the Costa Rican team at the 20-minute mark, "Rebecrack" responded immediately, leveling the score at 24 minutes. She then set up the play where Deisy Ojeda assisted Jessica Martínez to put the South Americans in the lead at the 26-minute mark.

The victory was sealed five minutes later when Rebeca Fernández, in an individual play, beat goalkeeper Génesis Pérez. Despite Costa Rica making five offensive changes in the second half, they couldn't get closer to the goal guarded by Fanny Godoy, and the score remained unchanged.

The star of the Paraguayan team, Rebeca Fernández, acknowledged that the fifth place "wasn't what the team expected, but we finished on a high note, and we are content with that. Now there's a FIFA international break, followed by the Gold Cup. There's no time to rest, and we'll prepare for all of that," she concluded.

In this way, Paraguay bids farewell to the Pan American Games with two victories, one against Jamaica (10-0) and the other against Costa Rica, and two losses to Chile (1-0) and Mexico (1-4). On the other hand, Costa Rica recorded two goalless draws against Argentina and Bolivia and suffered defeats against the United States (1-3) and the Paraguayan team.

Written by Diego Mora - Nicolás Olea; translated by Rocio Rojas / Photosport
Photo by Pablo Tomasello/Santiago 2023 / Photosport