There are moments that stay in the game, and others that stay forever.

What happened before the match between the Mexican Women’s National Team and the Puerto Rican Women’s National Team, on April 18 at the Estadio Nemesio Diez, seems to fall into that second group.

During the anthems, while heavy rain and hail fell, the players began to cover the children who accompanied them. Not as part of the protocol, but as an immediate reaction to what was happening. Among them, Alice Soto and Scarlett Camberos were some of those who made themselves visible by protecting them with their bodies and hands.

It was a brief gesture, but enough.

Because for the children who were there, that moment probably has nothing to do with the scoreboard or what came next, but with what they felt at that moment.

Then the match followed its course.

Mexico ended up winning 6-0 in a key match in the Concacaf W Qualifier, securing its place in the next phase and keeping the road to the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

But even with that result, there is something that remains before that.

Because not everything important happens while the game is in progress.