TIJUANA, Mexico -- Seconds away from interviewing Mexico's wonderkid Gilberto Mora, I received an unanticipated text from Club Tijuana's communications team that led to a viral moment in Mexican sports media.
"Cesar, can you do your question in English to Gil? Please, you're next," read the message as I was then unmuted for a Zoom call in early August.
Mora, 16, had already amassed a lengthy list of surprises within the first 11 months of his career. He's the youngest scorer in Liga MX, the youngest to debut in a competitive match for the Mexico national team, and recently surpassed Pelé and Lamine Yamal to become the youngest player to win an international trophy at the Concacaf Gold Cup.
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And yet there he was, surprising people again.
"I'm so happy to be part of this [Club Tijuana] team and obviously of the Mexican national team," Mora said fluently to ESPN. "I try to enjoy this moment, and with the support of my teammates and my coach, [I'm] grateful."
Sitting alongside him like a proud parent, Tijuana manager Sebastián Abreu interrupted the interview with loud applause. "That was perfect. What more could you want?" said the coach in Spanish. "He strikes with his left, with the right, he scores goals, and he speaks to you in English.
"If you ask him, he speaks German too, but we don't have any German journalists," Abreu joked.
Tijuana's coach has a point. Just last summer, Mora was a 15-year-old academy prospect with no professional experience and since then, he's had a meteoric rise not only as a key figure for his club side, but also as a game-changer for Mexico ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
So what's next?
"I want to win trophies with Xolos, and obviously with the national team, the World Cup, and also go to Europe," the versatile attack-minded teenager added to ESPN.
Mora is one of the most exciting young players in world soccer and a possible savior for Mexico on the sport's biggest stage.
A future 'Champions League' player in Tijuana
On Friday gamedays at the U.S.-Mexico border, Xolos jerseys are a regular sight when crossing to and from Tijuana, but against a Liga MX giant like Chivas on Aug. 22, one couldn't help but notice the sizable fan base of the Rojiblancos also gradually making their way south.
As arguably one of the two most popular club teams in North America, and with a Mexicans-only roster policy that elicits plenty of cultural pride, few games are bigger for Xolos than when Chivas come to town and make the Estadio Caliente feel like an extension of Guadalajara.
Amid all that, Mora was still the main attraction.
"Best prospect [in Mexican soccer]? Yeah, without a doubt," said Tom Harrison, a Liga MX analyst who spent time as Santos Laguna's head of analytics. "This kid could definitely be a Champions League-level player in the future."
Five minutes into the match, and after being given the loudest cheers from the announced starting XIs of either team, the young Mexico international found the back of the net.
Playing what felt like a false No. 9 role, the teenager pounced on a loose ball in the 18-yard box and cleverly put Xolos up 1-0. Able to comfortably play in the midfield, as a No. 10, a winger that cuts inside, or up front, Mora was once again putting on a show.
"His ball retention is amazing, so not just dribbling, but when he's passing the ball, or in terms of not taking a bad touch, not getting tackled. He's one of the best in the league in terms of keeping the ball," said Harrison, who also praised his ball carrying and one-on-one moments.
"That's something that really I wouldn't associate normally with such a young player."
By the 64th minute, Mora then played a role in Xolos' second goal. Although it looked to be an own goal from Chivas' Luis Romo, the Xolos youngster helped influence the play with a battle for a rebounded shot that then went past Chivas goalkeeper Raúl Rangel. No matter the official calling of an own goal -- and later an eventual blown lead in a game that ended 3-3 -- the border-town match felt like another massive step forward for the summer's Gold Cup-winner.
"It was a process," Mora said postgame to ESPN about working on his finishing. "I was missing that, shooting more, scoring more goals, and well, happy because they're coming in."
"Keep working," he added. "And then aspire for big things."
Abreu also praised the kid who is, well, perhaps not a kid anymore at the sporting level.
"There's no need to talk about Gil Mora [as] a youth player anymore," said the coach post-game. "Yes, he's young, he's 16 years old, but also a first division player that's the same as everyone else. [He has] character, goals, positioning on the pitch where he's versatile and moves like a professional first-division player."
Mora's path to Mexico stardom
It's fitting that Mora's rapid journey to the senior national team is thanks to his discovery by one of Mexico's former coaches.
Following Xolos' early exit in last year's Leagues Cup tournament, former El Tri manager Juan Carlos Osorio -- who was then coach of Tijuana -- was given ample time to tinker and arrange inter-squad summer sessions and some of Xolos' most promising academy players were invited. Taking notes on the youthful reserves with three-digit kits that have to work their way up to the single and double digits of the first team, Osorio began to keep track of a certain No. 251, a son of a former professional player who shared the same name.
Osorio was soon won over.
By August 2024, Osorio brought Mora to the first team and gave him his debut at just 15 years of age, against Santos Laguna. After dribbling through the midfield and connecting with striker Jaime Álvarez, Mora earned his first assist within 30 minutes. Two weeks later, in his first-ever professional start, he became the youngest goal scorer in Liga MX after providing a 65th-minute game-winner against León.
"Gil, he's a good kid, on and off the field," said Xolos midfielder and former U.S. men's national team player Joe Corona to ESPN. "He's shown it through all the games he's played with the first team and with the national team. Off the field, he's just a young kid with a dream. He's a super well-educated kid, a talented kid that has a very high potential."
What Osorio noticed wasn't a fluke. For a number-cruncher like Harrison, a much younger Mora had arrived on his radar through an analytics provider called GolStats that primarily covers Mexican soccer.
"I was able to track players and see who are the most interesting [Liga MX academy] guys," Harrison said. "He was already standing out to me as this might be the best kid we've seen at this age group in his position, in his role since 2018, which is when GolStats started providing data."
At the highest level through the senior national team, Mora's unprecedented growth in Liga MX led to him being called up for an experimental and youthful roster during Mexico's January camp. Still thriving in early 2025 at the club level, Mora was then added to Mexico's Gold Cup roster for the summer, making three appearances in the knockout rounds and assisting on the game-winning goal in their 1-0 semifinal win over Honduras.
Playing in a deeper role in the midfield of El Tri's 4-3-3 formation, Mora cemented his status by becoming the youngest player to lift an international trophy as Javier Aguirre's Mexico defeated the United States 2-1 in the final. Weeks later, he would then go on to score the lone goal for Liga MX in July's MLS All-Star Game.
"His skill set isn't what you'd expect for a young player," Harrison said. "Like, he's not just okay, he's really quick and he's good on the dribble and that's it. He's someone who's so much more well-rounded than that."
Back with Xolos after the Gold Cup, Abreu knows it's only a matter of time before he goes on to achieve greater things.
"It seems to me that when we talk about Gil Mora, everything you see is exactly what I see," Abreu said to ESPN. "We have the pleasure of being able to enjoy him here. Every day that passes is one less day that we'll be able to enjoy him here, until he turns 18 [when he will be able to move to Europe] and then [low whistle] we can enjoy him elsewhere."
'He can make his dreams come true'
Patience and the right steps are constant themes when discussing Mora's future, which seems destined for Europe.
If there's one player who understands that, it's Mexico star Hirving "Chucky" Lozano, who offered advice to Mora after previously leaping abroad at a young age.
"I met him there at the [MLS] All-Star Game and I told him to keep going, to keep enjoying himself," said the San Diego FC player to ESPN's Ahora o Nunca. "I think the most important thing is to lead him in the best way possible ... step by step and do it in the best way for him. Because we've seen many players who are lifted up high and then they get lost.
"He's a great player, he has a lot of quality and, well, I hope he does very well in the future and that he can make his dreams come true."
After the Chivas game in August, Abreu had similar comments.
"I think the important thing would be to do it like [Federico] Valverde, who Madrid bought when he turned 18, but they loaned him out for a year to Deportivo de la Coruña, who were playing LaLiga, and he went through that whole adaptation process," Abreu noted.
"He could, obviously, make that important leap to Europe, but he could have that transition to where he could compete, where he could play, where he could learn the environment, the dynamics, the rhythm, what the physical aspect is."
Mexico are taking it carefully with Mora in this international window. Instead of taking part in friendlies against Japan and South Korea, the soon-to-be 17-year-old is training with the youth squad that is preparing for the Under-20 World Cup.
A paradox of a veteran presence that's also a few years younger than many of his 20-year-old teammates, Mora is expected to be a vital leader when the tournament kicks off later this month.
It might be a strange feeling for most, but this is also a player who was seen signing autographs after the Chivas game for teenagers and young adults who were clearly older than him. And those autographs and notoriety will undoubtedly continue.
If the last 12 months has proven that Mora can be a game-changer for club and country at any level, 2026 will be an opportunity to take Mexico to new heights at the World Cup that they'll co-host with the U.S. and Canada.
Already smashing records and far surpassing expectations, who knows what additional surprises he'll have by then? Perhaps he'll even answer some questions in German as well.