Analysing Gilberto Mora, Mexico's 16-year-old wonderkid who broke a Lamine Yamal record on Sunday

New York Times

12 hours ago

Following the extraordinary rise of Lamine Yamal across the last calendar year, it's easy to feel a bit numb to the tender age at which game-changing footballers are breezing to the top of the modern game.
In Gilberto Mora, Mexico might just have unearthed the next.
This time last summer, the teenager had yet to play a single minute of senior football. But over the last week, Mora has started three times for his country, tip-tapping between flailing legs with the ball at his feet, his confidence and dribbling ability utterly defying his years.
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On Thursday, he provided a crucial assist for Raul Jimenez, a centre forward more than twice his age, to help Mexico through to the Gold Cup final.
Three days later, he played 75 minutes as Javier Aguirre's side won it with a 2-1 victory over the United States, overtaking Yamal and the great Pele as the youngest-ever player to lift an international trophy, aged 16 years and 265 days.
It's hard not to sit up and take notice of Mora, his baby-faced exuberance almost comically out of place alongside some of the grizzled veterans around whom he was running.
But his performances across the last week, in an unfamiliar midfield role no less, beamed composure and experience beyond his age.
Mexico is a vibrant place to play football, stadiums bursting with colour and noise. It's where Mora's free-spirited approach to the game has found a natural home, a slippery winger with touch-tight control who can whip up a crowd with nutmegs and drag-backs, spins and shots from all across the pitch.
His breakthrough season with Tijuana has captured the imagination, given his opportunity with the first team after being offered a grant to study at a local school by the club, almost 4,000 kilometres away from his hometown of Tuxtla Gutierrez in the south west.
He was just 15 when he trotted onto the pitch for his Liga MX debut in August 2024, bouncing around in a baggy black shirt with the No 251 on his back. But sure enough, just 20 minutes after his introduction, Mora left opposition midfielder Salvador Mariscal behind with a sharp turn, before gliding towards the halfway line and slipping it through to Jaime Alvarez to score.
Within two weeks, he would become the youngest goalscorer in Mexican top-flight history, sweeping home after a cross broke kindly to him on the penalty spot against Club Leon. 'I hope he goes on to have a successful career,' said his manager Juan Carlos Osorio after the game. 'This is a triumph for the academy and for Gilberto's family.'
Since then, Mora has racked up over 1,000 minutes of game time, commentators perking up when 'El chamaco Mora' — the kid, Mora — picks up the ball out on the left.
Another fond phrase from the gantry is 'Encara, Mora' — still, Mora —just as we heard over and over when Lionel Messi scored that iconic solo goal against Getafe back in 2007. This 16-year-old has that unerring ability to hold onto the ball for so much longer than it looks like he should.
Mora was fouled almost twice per game last season, his quick feet and low centre of gravity helping him to wriggle around challenges and keep his balance with defenders snapping at his heels.
Predominantly playing off the left at club level, Mora is not afraid to drive towards the penalty area and strike through the ball with his right foot, taking 21 shots from that side of the pitch.
Here against Santos Laguna, for example, he receives the pass out wide with the defence backtracking, quick to face up to his full-back before chopping inside and hammering a low shot towards the near post.
He can also hit them with his left, as he made quite clear in that Gold Cup final against the United States.
Popping up on the opposite side of the pitch, Mora does not lack confidence as he demands the ball from full-back Jorge Sanchez before scurrying inside and letting fly from distance. Matt Freese steps across to make the save, but not without spilling a strike that was swerving through the air.
His technical ability means that at club level, Tijuana often leave him out wide, an outlet for the team to move forward quickly.
He received close to 8.0 progressive passes per game last season, the fourth-highest rate in the squad, a winger who you can sling passes out to and expect them to bring the ball down, burst into a dangerous area and make things happen.
This curled effort against Pumas flashes wide, but Mora's first touch, smooth swivelling motion around the defender and far-post shot illustrate the danger he can create after a quick switch of play.
That said, it was Mora's willingness to drift across the pitch to pick up the ball that stood out across his busy performances for the national team.
Despite his slender figure, he was deployed as a midfielder in a 4-3-3 in each of the Gold Cup knockout games in a left-sided No 8 role, with Edson Alvarez anchoring things in the middle. He more than held his own without the ball, winning 13 of his 18 ground duels, but Mora was at his best when given freedom to drift into the pockets of space behind the opposition midfield.
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It's how he picked up his first goal contribution for his country, as shown by the series of images below.
As Johan Vasquez carries the ball out of defence in frame one, Mora has drifted inside to allow left-back Mateo Chavez to push on. Meanwhile, forward Alexis Vega has dropped from his advanced position, dragging Honduras centre-back Denil Maldonado out of the back four.
Mora spots the opportunity to attack that space and latches onto Vega's pass in frame three, before dancing around the challenge of defender Julian Jose Martinez and sliding it into the box for Jimenez to hit first time.
Not just his self-assurance, it was Mora's versatility, alongside his personality to continually show for the ball under pressure, that shone brightly on the international stage.
There are, of course, areas to be worked on — his decision-making in the final third, strength in shoulder-to-shoulder duels — but they are understandable, and refinable, at such a young age.
'Surely he will be competing in Europe,' said Tijuana's academy director Ignacio Ruvalcaba told Mexican sports newspaper Record earlier this month. 'I'd like to see him here for a little longer, maybe a year, and that he goes to the World Cup and then makes the leap.'
If his first outings for the national team are anything to go by, then Mora shouldn't have too many problems making the step up.
(Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)