Mirabelli: Puerto Rico qualifying was immense joy

History will be made later this year when Puerto Rico take to the pitch at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2026™. It will mark the first time that any team from the Caribbean island, men’s or women’s, have participated in a World Cup match at any level. The man guiding this milestone journey is Andres Mirabelli who, after missing out on the 2025 edition by a whisker, got the Boricuas across the finish line. But for the Argentinian tactician, this is just the start. With the support of federation president Ivan Rivera and other senior directors, Mirabelli tells FIFA that Puerto Rico’s long-term objective is to build toward becoming Women’s World Cup regulars at all levels. Their first step comes on 17 October in their Group B opener against four-time and reigning champions Korea DPR. FIFA: How is the team’s preparation for Morocco 2026 coming along? Andres Mirabelli: Never before has a Puerto Rico team been able to prepare [for a tournament] with so much lead time. This is the first time we’re doing three micro-cycles. The great thing is that I’ve also been working with the younger age-group teams, and these girls have been training together for two years. So it’s not just preparing for this World Cup itself, but that we’ve prepared for other previous competitions, which makes for a much more united group. The roster isn’t the same as the one that qualified for the World Cup. A high percentage of the 21 players remain, but there will be at least four new players. That’s important for us because these new players could be part of the starting XI, and that makes a big difference. We held a nine-day training camp in Chula Vista [California] 10 days ago. On the 19th, we’ll begin a week-long training camp in New Jersey, at the [New York] Red Bulls’ training facility, and then we’ll do a final, slightly longer training camp starting on 1 October in Valencia, where we plan to play some high-level friendly matches against Switzerland and probably Japan. What was the feeling like when you all qualified? It’s hard because there’s so much that happens. It’s your life’s work, it’s the result of many years of preparation. It’s the first time this has happened for Puerto Rico; you put your family aside for a long time to pursue your dreams. At that moment, a lot of things go through your mind. It’s the movie of your life. What it means for Puerto Rico, what it represents for Puerto Rico, the joy was immense. Women’s football in Puerto Rico has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade. What has been the key to that? It has been a tremendous effort from everyone – from the coaching staff, the sporting director and the president - to improve the way we work. The key step was figuring out how we could recruit players. For Puerto Rico, this is an incredible opportunity, because we have a very large diaspora in the United States – there are nearly four million Puerto Ricans there, many of whom play football in the world’s leading country for women’s football. We started to organize scouting trips to watch players, and began talking with clubs about how we could identify which of these players are U.S. citizens of Puerto Rican descent and so on. What stands out about this group of players who will be at the World Cup? The human aspect, above all. Many of these players have been working with me for over two years. There are times when there is crying, there are good times, there are moments when you go through tough times with different outcomes, both positive and negative. But we’ve maintained a very strong group and we’ve embraced this idea of being Puerto Rico’s first team to qualify for a World Cup. It hasn’t been easy. Some of them really feel that Puerto Rican blood, but with others we’ve had to instill in them why we’re here. For example, our players from the United States, maybe they aren’t representing the country they originally wanted to, right? So, we try to get them to start thinking back to their Puerto Rican family, their grandmother when they were little, what their grandfather used to do, the flag their dad has tattooed, the vacations [to Puerto Rico] they took - a lot of things we’ve worked on mentally and psychologically – to create a team where today everyone truly identifies with Puerto Rico. You all debut against the reigning champions, Korea DPR. How do you feel about that? It's a dream come true for the girls because they know they're going to face the world's number one. We’re planning our strategy carefully to get the best possible result. We know, on paper, they’re the toughest opponent in the World Cup, but we have our own strengths. We’ve studied them thoroughly and we know how difficult it will be. It’s not impossible; out of 100 matches, maybe one or two end in a draw, and one in a win, but that one match could be this one. We’re ready to put up a fight. We’re coming in without pressure. The pressure is on Korea DPR, because they know they’re playing a team that’s just starting to carve out its own path in world football. They’re coming off a title defence. We’re going to play without nerves. I don’t think they’re nervous about facing us, but they are under pressure to win. We’ll see what happens in those first 20 minutes, which will be crucial for not conceding if we have any hopes at all. What are your thoughts on your other group opponents, Nigeria and Poland? We know that if we want to earn a point, or earn three points, and advance to the next round, logic dictates that we have to play a more aggressive game against these two opponents. Perhaps the match against Poland will be more evenly matched; we’re teams that, in some ways, are similar. We also know that Nigeria is a team with impressive physical strength and they’re very similar to teams like Haiti or Jamaica in terms of style of play, and ones we’re already used to. What do you envision the future to be for these players? We were talking about this at our last training camp, and during our one-on-one meetings, we asked them: “What drives you? What do you want to become? And where do you see yourself five years from now? Do you see yourself on the senior national team? Do you see yourself on a professional team? Do you see yourself at a Division 1 university?” A year or two ago, when they answered these questions, the responses were completely different. Today, they see themselves playing professional soccer, and perhaps a high percentage of them will achieve that. But the reality is that even if just one of them makes it to a top-tier team, it can pave the way for all the others in the not-too-distant future.