Mexico is haunted by the past again as they lose third place to Portugal.

Old ghosts haunt Mexico again as a repeat of 2014 occurred and Mexico lost the third place game against Portugal. Mexico led up until the 90th minute when Miguel Layun got beat by Pepe to score and take things to extra time. Then in extra time, in another play reminiscent of 2014, Layun conceded a penalty kick that Adrien Silva converted to win and beat Mexico. Mexico had played their best game since their opener but never quite dominated the game. Their goal came off an own goal by Portuguese Beto. The game turned out to be controversial with two red cards, one to each side, and a questionable penalty kick not called in favor of Mexico. This lead to another outburst from Juan Carlos Osorio that got him expelled from the game.

Mexico's defensive woes and uncertain starts continued this game as they struggled with a Portuguese team that went straight ahead from the start. A couple of close plays that Mexico struggled to clear painted a bad picture that got worse after Rafael Marquez fouled Andre Silva to give away a penalty kick. The foul wasn't originally called but had to go to the VAR system. Silva took the penalty but Guillermo Ochoa made a great save.

After the save, Mexico started picking up the tempo and the game became more balanced. A close play from a free kick almost had the ball go through for Mexico. Then a great combination play with Carlos Vela and Chicharito Hernandez finished with a great shot and an even better save by Rui Patricio. Portugal, though, kept pushing up in the wet conditions and it was a surprise that both sides hadn't scored at halftime.

The second half had a good start for Mexico, with a better control of the ball and a lot of fight. This culminated with a great combination play between Hernandez to Vela, who missed but Portugal's Beto scored it in his own net.

Portugal had their chances after, and Ochoa had to come big a couple of times. Mexico had the offensive chances but wasted most of them and although good subs were made, they failed to make an impact offensively. Then in the last minute of the game, and after Portugal had taken control of the game, a cross was made that Pepe connected and scored, this after going right past Layun who failed in the play.

In extra time, Mexico started as the better team and had a couple of chances that they wasted. Then another terrible mistake from Layun gave Portugal a penalty. Andre Silva converted it and Portugal were in the lead for the first time. Thereafter, Mexico looked to have been given an opportunity when Nelson Semedo got red carded for his second yellow. But Mexico also wasted that opportunity when Raul Jimenez did a similar play and got his second yellow.

Mexico still pushed up and had an Hector Herrera shot saved. In the final minutes, Hector Moreno looked to have been pushed in the area but the penalty wasn't called and it wasn't sent for review on VAR. This lead to protest from the Mexican players and Juan Carlos Osorio reacted badly again and got expelled.

This fourth place match culminates a performance that has to be seen as a bad one. Once again Mexico showed hints of the past after their terrible semifinal performance, with another last minute debacle. While Mexico played an overall good performance, they still lost to a Portugal team that was missing their best player. The worst thing is the manner of losing was all too common for Mexico, which brings a sensation that things aren't changing at all, something that was already very present after the semifinal loss to Germany. Aside from the Gold Cup, Mexico will now not have any official competitions besides the World Cup qualifiers up until the World Cup, should they qualify.