Soccer-Mexico look to beef up reputation at World Cup

June 4 (Reuters) - Mexico have long been overshadowed by their northern neighbours when it comes to women's soccer and while that is unlikely to change at the World Cup, El Tricolor hope to beef up their reputation. Coach Leonardo Cuellar has been with the team since they were established in earnest to try and qualify for the 1999 Women's World Cup and has overseen a gradual rise in quality. That debut appearance in 1999 saw an inexperienced team, heavily drawn from Mexico-eligible players from the U.S. college system, thrashed 7-1 by Brazil and 6-0 by Germany as they failed to get out of the group stage. It was 12 years before Mexico were back in the World Cup finals and Cuellar's work was evident in improved results - a 1-1 draw with England, a 2-2 draw with New Zealand were only slightly spoilt by a 4-0 defeat to eventual winners Japan. The breakthrough came in 2010 when Mexico pulled off a major upset in beating the United States in the semi-final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, before losing 1-0 to Canada in the final. Qualification for this World Cup proved to be hard work though - in the 2014 Gold Cup they lost to Costa Rica in the group stage and the Unites States in the semis, leaving them to battle with Trinidad and Tobago for the region's third spot. With little over 10 minutes remaining, Mexico were trailing but an equaliser forced extra time and Veronica Charlyn Corral scored twice to save face for Cuellar's team. "This is a young squad that still need to mature in certain aspects of the game," Cuellar said after qualification was secured and a recent 5-1 friendly loss to the United States that highlighted the gulf still remains. Twelve players on Mexico's preliminary 24-woman World Cup squad were either born in the United States or grew up there. While Mexico look to develop more talent in at home, several players are contracted with U.S. clubs while goalkeeper Pamela Tajonar and defender Kenti Robles play in Spain. Group F sees Mexico up against France, England and Colombia. (Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami; Editing by Frank Pingue)