Two games into the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Mexico’s Gilberto Mora has been as good as advertised.
El Tri faced Spain on Wednesday needing to score points against one of the tournament’s favorites. Fortunately for Eduardo Arce’s side, Mora was the best player on the pitch.
The 16-year-old gem opened the scoring after getting away from defenders with an incisive run from the right wing. A quick give-and-go saw him left alone against Real Madrid Castilla goalkeeper Fran González and Mora curled a shot into the far corner to give Mexico the lead in the first half.
Spain came back, though, and two goals from La Rojita had Mexico staring at the face of defeat with less than five minutes to go. That was until Mora alertly stepped in front of his marker, getting to the end of a cross to fire a perfectly placed volley into the bottom corner.
GILBERTO MORA AGAIN 😱
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) October 1, 2025
MEXICO LEVELS IT LATE AGAINST SPAIN 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/F4Gl5Y1t9v
El Tri settled for its second 2–2 draw of the World Cup thanks to Mora’s 87th minute equalizer. After bagging two points from games against powerhouses Brazil and Spain, a win against Morocco would suffice to qualify to the round of 16.
Gilberto Mora’s Is Making U-20 World Cup History
They follow the ball. The ball follows him. 🇲🇽#U20WC pic.twitter.com/RcMxN6vj3A
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) October 2, 2025
The Tijuana midfielder has been directly involved in all four of Mexico’s goals through two games in the U-20 World Cup.
Mora sent in the cross that led to Mexico’s opener against Brazil and then assisted El Tri’s equalizer. Against Spain, he scored twice to become the youngest player ever to find the back of the net for El Tri in a U-20 World Cup.
But Mora’s record breaking performance doesn’t stop there. With his two goal performance, he became the youngest player to score a brace in U-20 World Cup history.
Coming off a summer where Mora became the youngest player to win a senior international trophy after conquering the 2025 Gold Cup, the third youngest player in the 2025 U-20 World Cup is showing why he’s one of the best prospects in the tournament.
Mora has been named Player of the Match in both of Mexico’s games so far and will continue to be the team’s biggest hope of making a deep run in Chile.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mexico National Team Prodigy Shines in FIFA U-20 World Cup.
