Shock at the FIFA U-15 World Cup: Mexico advances with a perfect record as Argentina, France and England are eliminated
Marvin Cabrera's El Tri won all five of its Group H games and is among the 32 teams that will fight for the title; several powerhouses fell by the wayside.
The first phase of the historic FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival Azerbaijan 2026 ended with a jolt to youth football: while the Mexico national team booked its place among the 32 best nations that will contest the Final Phase for the title, powers such as Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Japan and Senegal were surprisingly knocked out of the race for the trophy.
Marvin Cabrera's Mexico side dominated Group H with a perfect record of five wins in five games — beating Hungary, Dominica, Syria, Ethiopia and Malaysia — with an emphatic 24 goals scored and just two conceded.
The reason behind so many upsets lies in the unprecedented format designed by Arsène Wenger for this 189-nation tournament in Baku, played in a rapid-fire 8-v-8 format on reduced-size fields with two 20-minute halves.
Any slip-up proved fatal for the favorites.
With the field split into 32 groups in which only the winner of each advances to Category A to compete for the world crown, any slip-up proved fatal for the favorites and left almost no margin for error.
With several European and South American giants out of the way, and with Poland ranked as the best team of the opening round, the young El Tri — led in attack by Zamir Loyo, Marcelo Villarreal and Aarón Muñoz — will look to make a statement in the knockout rounds on the road to the Oct. 30 final at Baku Crystal Hall.
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