Dos Santos leads Mexico past Gambia in U-20 World Cup opener

Barcelona’s Giovanni Dos Santos lived up to his billing as one of the players to watch at the U-20 World Cup, scoring on a volley from 25 yards for Mexico to start it on its way to a 3-0 win over Gambia in their opening Group C game.

Hector Moreno and Javier Hernandez added insurance goals to end the Gambian threat.

Portugal opened with a 2-0 win over New Zealand thanks to a pair of goals by Bruno Gama. New Zealand started four players who will be playing college ball in the fall — two for Dartmouth and two for defending champion UC Santa Barbara.

In Monday’s only other game, Austria and Congo tied, 1-1.

UNDER-20 WORLD CUP RESULTS:
Group A
Austria 1 (Hoffer 7) Congo 1 (Ibara pen. 59).
Group C
Mexico 3 (Dos Santos 57, Moreno 67, Hernandez 89) Gambia 0.
Portugal 2 (Gama 45, pen. 61) New Zealand 0.