DOHA, Qatar – The FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025 continued on Tuesday with Concacaf nation Mexico bowing out of the tournament with a 5-nil loss to Portugal in the Round of 16 at Aspire Zone - Pitch 3 in Doha, Qatar.
Portugal took the lead in the 15’ as Rafael Quintas converted a penalty kick attempt.
Mexico was down to ten when Jose Navarro received a red card in the 36’.
Anisio Cabral, the tournament’s leading scorer, doubled the lead in the 48’. Portugal wrapped up the victory with three goals in the closing stretch, from Zeega in the 81’, Miguel Figueiredo in the 83’, and Yoan Pereira in the 85’.
Santiago Lopez exited the match in the 88’ due to a red card as Mexico finished the match with nine players.
The result concludes Mexico’s participation as the furthest advancing nation from Concacaf in the 2025 edition. Mexico reached the Round of 16 of the U-17 World Cup for the eighth consecutive edition, and 11th overall.
Post-Match Stats
● Ian Olvera was the Mexican player with the most duels won against Portugal, with seven. He finished the current FIFA U-17 World Cup as the Mexican player with the most duels won (33) and the defender with the third-highest number of goal contributions in the entire competition (3, two assists and one goal).
● Mexico ended their participation in the current FIFA U-17 World Cup with their best shot-on-target ratio of the last four editions, at 40%. They had 47 attempts, 19 of which were on target, surpassing their performance in 2023 with 36% (17 out of 47).
● Mexico only allowed Portugal one shot on goal, three crosses, and 10 touches in the opposition box in the first half. This is the lowest number of crosses and interventions in oppositions box (tied with Japan with 10) that the European team had in the current FIFA U-17 World Cup in a first half. However, the only shot on target in this period resulted in a goal.
