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How Mexico and Japan Squads Ended Up Besties at U17 World Cup

Mexico and Japan U-17 players are giving us strong friendship goals as their heartwarming story in the 2025 U-17 FIFA World Cup has left fans in awe.

The Under-17 FIFA World Cup is currently underway in Doha, Qatar, and the tournament has already given us a number of tremendous stories.

However, no story is as awe-inspiring as the unique friendship struck between two squads who have become close friends during their stay in Doha.

With the tournament taking place at the Aspire Zone, a multi-sports complex in Doha, Qatar, teams are having to stay in the same hotel and share the same dining areas.

This has directly resulted in Mexico and Japan’s U-17 sides becoming good friends and cheering for each other’s success.

This gesture of friendship started when the Japanese team warmed up to the Mexican squad with high-fives and friendly conversations while sharing the same hotel.

The Mexican and Japanese players have formed a unique bond

Since then, both Mexican and Japanese players have supported the other team before and after their matches, celebrating their success as their own.

But the real credit for igniting this friendship goes to Muramatsu Shuji, the Japanese U-17 captain and goalkeeper.

Muramatsu Shuji is the figure behind this friendship between the Mexican and Japanese squads

Shuji, who currently plays for LAFC, seems quite fond of the local Mexican crowd, which he deems as the inspiration behind the gesture.

 “Since I live in Los Angeles (LA), Mexico is right next door. I have many Mexican teammates, and I can speak some Spanish, so we naturally became close.”

He also stated how they initiated the high-fives first, and things worked out from there.

Initially, half of the Japanese players did it first, and then the Mexican team and staff joined in.

Interestingly, some Mexican players also had a prior history of contact with Japan earlier that year.

An international tournament was organized in March as part of an exchange program between the Hiroshima Prefecture and the Guanajuato State.

On their Mexican tour, the Hiroshima Prefecture High School Soccer Team played against Club Leon Youth and other teams.

The current #4 Michael Corona and #12 Abdon Turbiates in the Mexico U-17 squad took part in this tournament. During the 10-day tour, they played two games, including a training match, and Corona and Turbiates also had lunch with the Hiroshima players.

Nozomi Hiroyama, the head coach of Japan, talked about how the friendship has helped bring the best out of the two teams:

“I think we’re bringing out the best in each other. It seems like Shuji Muramatsu knew some of the players, so I think he’s making good use of that.”

The most viral moment of their friendship was witnessed during Mexico’s qualification for the knockout rounds.

As Mexico finished 3rd in the group, they had to hope for the results of other games to go in their favor to help them progress. The two squads sat together in the dining hall and watched the all-important Saudi Arabia vs Mali match.

Mali winning 2-0 meant Mexico qualified for the group stages as they had a better fair play point difference. Both camps celebrated Mexico’s U-17 WC knockout qualification to the next round with the biggest smile possible.

Mutumatsu Shuji talked about the atmosphere as they watched the game together:

“It was just mealtime, and everyone gathered together and watched on their smartphones. We were all together when the final goal was scored, and celebrated together. It may have been a bit rude to the other team, but we made a big fuss.”

In the first knockout round, Mexico defeated Argentina 5-4 on penalties after the game ended at 2-2 in normal time. This Round of 32 win means Mexico will be facing Portugal in the RO16 on November 18th.

Meanwhile, Japan faced South Africa in the RO32, winning their match 3-0 and booking a RO16 date against North Korea on November 18th.

The best thing about this story is that the brackets are set in a way that if the two teams keep winning, they will only get to play each other directly in the Final.

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