{"id":428560,"date":"2026-08-10T04:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/428560\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T04:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:46:10","slug":"tom-krasovic-tijuanas-teenage-star-visits-snapdragon-stadium-as-speculation-swirls-about-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/428560\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Krasovic: Tijuana’s teenage star visits Snapdragon Stadium as speculation swirls about future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone in the full-house soccer crowd wanted to know:<\/p>\n

Would Gilberto Mora play?<\/p>\n

Indeed, he would.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old futbol prodigy started Sunday night\u2019s League Cup match between the Tijuana Xolos and San Diego FC at Snapdragon Stadium.<\/p>\n

My Mora question for the Xolos is a cheeky one:<\/p>\n

Why play Mora at all, what with an imminent payoff of $30-plus million looming?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the amount Mora reportedly could command in October when, upon turning 18, he becomes eligible for a transfer to Europe.<\/p>\n

Yes, competition sharpens a player\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

Mora got plenty of seasoning in the recent World Cup, a much more valuable test and status report.<\/p>\n

Just six weeks ago, he started against England in a final 16s match.<\/p>\n

The midfielder opened against Ecuador, too, days after going 71 minutes against Czechia.<\/p>\n

\"TijuanaTijuana Xolos star Gilberto Mora signs autographs for fans before Sunday\u2019s Leagues Cup match against San Diego FC at Snapdragon Stadium. (Tijuana Xolos)<\/p>\n

With $30 million on the line, I\u2019d wrap Mora in bubble wrap. Let the grown men have at it.<\/p>\n

As you might expect, the World Cup sparkle Mora displayed wasn\u2019t evident early in Sunday\u2019s Leagues Cup match between Liga MX\u2019s Xolos and Major League Soccer\u2019s San Diego FC. In fact, it was another teen, San Diego FC\u2019s Bryan Zamble of the Ivory Coast, who scored early as SDFC pulled off a 1-0 win.<\/p>\n

Greeted like a rock star when he entered a stadium, and when he helped lead red-and-black-clad Tijuana onto the patchy pitch, Mora never took flight as he had several times for \u201cEl Tri\u201d before roaring crowds in Mexico City or nearby.<\/p>\n

Early on, Mora in no way resembled the whirlwind he was against Ecuador. Fueling his team\u2019s rousing first half,\u00a0 he worked give-and-go flair on the right side and nearly netted a far-post curler from the left side.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to represent Mexico in the famed Estadio Azteca, and quite another to play what amounts to a friendly, while knowing the Europeans have already decided to come after you.<\/p>\n

In the second half, Mora flashed more of the World Cup-Liga MX form.<\/p>\n

So did the Xolos.<\/p>\n

And just by playing in San Diego for the first time, Mora created memories for himself, his family and everyone in front of a crowd of 31,538 fans.<\/p>\n

Fans saw a player who stands to start every match for Mexico in the 2030 World Cup in Europe.<\/p>\n

Will the 21-year-old match the 22-year-old Chucky Lozano, whose goal beat Germany in the 2018 World Cup?<\/p>\n

By then, many more San Diegans figure to know about him.<\/p>\n

\"GilbertoGilberto Mora fans during Sunday\u2019s Leagues Cup match between SDFC and Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, CA. (Xavier Hernandez for the UT)<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a visitor to Petco Park and Fashion Valley.<\/p>\n

A middle child sandwiched between a pair of sisters, Mora learned a lot about soccer from his father, a former professional midfielder who coaches with Xolos.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also close to his mom, a beautician in Tijuana.<\/p>\n

Not old enough to drive in Mexico without an adult in the car, Mora often has his mother beside him when he drives to and from Xolos games.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping he appears in San Diego several more times.<\/p>\n

And, fingers are crossed that he rides a healthy stretch all the way to Europe.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everyone in the full-house soccer crowd wanted to know: Would Gilberto Mora play? Indeed, he would. The 17-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,74,1254,76,75,1083,127],"class_list":["post-428560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-fc","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}