MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico teenager Gilberto Mora scanned for options and threaded a pass to Jorge Sanchez, who collided with the Czech goalkeeper before Julián Quiñones poked home the loose ball for a 2-0 lead.
It was the type of spark Mexico coach Javier Aguirre was looking for from an offense that had looked sluggish, even as the team won its first two matches of the World Cup and had already cliched a spot in the round of 32.
The 17-year-old Mora brought clarity to the Mexican front line during the final group-stage match — a 3-0 victory — by linking up with the forwards with a fluidity that Brian Gutiérrez had lacked in the previous two games.
"Morita” became the youngest Mexican player to start a World Cup match. He surpassed the record held since the inaugural 1930 tournament by Manuel “Chaquetas” Rosas, who was 18 years, 88 days old.
“For me, it’s a dream come true — it’s what I’ve always worked for,” Mora said after Wednesday's match. “It hasn’t fully sunk in what I’m achieving, but I’m happy and pleased.
"We wanted all three wins, and now we have to focus on what’s next. We have to keep working and give a little more, because tough opponents are coming up and we want to keep advancing.”
Mexico had never before finished a group stage with three wins, and national expectations have mounted with each passing match, leading many fans to dream of advancing beyond the quarterfinals — the historic ceiling El Tri reached as hosts in 1970 and 1986.
Mora’s sudden impact is even more impressive considering his limited minutes: he made a brief cameo as a substitute against South Africa and sat out the South Korea match entirely. Now, the teenaged playmaker has the soccer world talking.
“We kept saying we wanted to see more of him, and the truth is he proved he’s a star,” said Alberto García Aspe, a former Mexican national team player who is a Fox Sports analyst. “The pass for the second goal was impressive.”
Mexico finished Group A with a perfect nine points. While their Round-of-32 opponent is still up in the air —slated to be a third-place finisher from another group — Mora’s performance has handed Aguirre a welcome selection headache heading into the single-elimination stage.
Mora already owns several records. In August 2024, he was the youngest to start and score in the Mexican first division at age 15. In January 2025, he was the youngest to debut for Mexico at 16.
Mora is the youngest of a new generation of players competing in their first World Cup. Joining him are midfielder Obed Vargas, 20, and full-back Mateo Chávez — a 22-year-old who scored the opening goal against the Czechs.
“Beyond their age, I have several young players who are thoroughly prepared," Aguirre said. "hey are a generation of young Mexicans who aren’t afraid of anything. This new generation is the future, and there is a solid foundation for what lies ahead.”
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
Czechia's Michal Sadilek (18) and Mexico's Gilberto Mora (19) battle for the ball during the World Cup Group A soccer match between Czechia and Mexico in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Mexico's Gilberto Mora (19) runs with the ball during the World Cup Group A soccer match between Czechia and Mexico in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko )
The Florida Everglades immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” has served its purpose, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday, closing the makeshift facility heralded by the Trump administration and denounced as inhumane by civil rights groups.
DeSantis said the center was always meant to be only temporary until more permanent detention centers could be secured and federal officials now have that capacity.
“We stepped up because there was a gap, but my hope is that they’ll be able to handle that,” the Republican governor said at a news conference at the facility.
Officials announced a temporary closure of the facility earlier in June and sent all of the detainees to other facilities, saying hurricane season made it unsafe to keep them in the Everglades.
Immigration advocates said the tents were never safe or humane for holding people. Detainees at the facility have talked about their difficulty accessing lawyers and described poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, toilets that didn’t flush, floors flooded with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere.
They described large white tents with rows of and rows of bunk beds surrounded by chain-link cages. The air conditioning could shut off abruptly in the sweltering Florida heat. Detainees could go days without showering or getting prescription medicine.
Advocates for immigrants said closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” does nothing to stop the harm to people who spend months in custody as their families suffer. The Florida Immigrant Coalition said the only winners were corporations and contractors who profited millions of dollars as Republicans pushed an immigration emergency that does not exist.
The detention center of tents and trailers was built by DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days opening during hurricane season in July 2025. DeSantis and President Donald Trump said the detention center was critical to Republican efforts to return people in the country illegally back to their home countries.
“There is no question this mission has made the state of Florida safer," said DeSantis, noting that 21,000 people were deported through the facility.
Even with the closure of the facility, Florida continues to play a key role with other detention centers and an increased role in helping with immigration enforcement, White House border czar Tom Homan said at Thursday’s news conference at the center.
“Gov. DeSantis did a good job and he’s going to continue doing what he’s doing to help us make this country safe again,” Homan said. “This isn’t the end of relationship. This is a continuation.”
Lawyers for the immigrants at the facility said their clients suddenly started leaving for other facilities in South Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana and Texas earlier this month, disappearing for about a week before their attorneys and families were told where they were sent.
DeSantis said the Everglades airstrip the facility was built around will continue to be used.
Environmental groups sued over the detention center, saying Florida officials never got the proper permits or did required reviews on it impact.
The state and federal governments built the site with no oversight and closed it with no input. But they will still be held responsible even with the site is closed, said Paul J. Schwiep an attorney for Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.
"The administration believes it can quietly walk away and leave its mess for others to clean up. The law will not allow them to escape accountability. We will ask the courts to ensure that the environmental damage is fully addressed," Schwiep said in a statement Thursday.
FILE - Trucks come and go from the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, Aug. 28, 2025, in Collier County, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
