Mexico remained in position to win its third major football tournament this year, beating Colombia 3-1 on Saturday night to advance to the semifinals of the Under-20 World Cup.

Mexico’s senior team won the regional Gold Cup title in June, defeating the United States 4-2, and added the Under-17 World Cup title in July, beating Uruguay 2-0 in the final.

Next up for Mexico will be either Spain or Brazil, ho were set to play their quarterfinal last night.

In Saturday’s other quarterfinal, Portugal ousted six-time champion Argentina 5-4 in a penalty shootout following a 0-0 stalemate through 90 minutes of regulation time and 30 minutes of extra time.

Portugal faces the winner of yesterday’s match between Nigeria and France.

Mexico’s Edson Rivera broke open a 1-1 match in the 69th minute with a header and then added a second goal in the 88th.

“There was a lot of celebrating when I went into the dressing room after the match,” Mexico coach Juan Carlos Chavez said. “When I came in I turned off the music. Fortunately, we are in the semifinals but we are not champions. That is when it will be time to celebrate.”

The loss was a heartbreaker for the sellout crowd of 42,000 in Bogota, where Colombia had won its first four games. Bogota’s altitude of 2,600 metres may have bothered Colombia’s other opponents, but many Mexican players live at altitude in cities like Mexico City, which is 2,250 metres.

“I feel a little sorry for the home fans,” Chavez added. “But we worked hard against a good team and managed to win. Maybe there were 40,000 people here cheering for Colombia, but we have 120 million Mexicans supporting us at a distance.”

Mexico also defeated Colombia 2-1 in a warm-up tournament before this event.

Mexico took an early 1-0 lead in the match when Erick Torres converted a penalty in the 38th. The spot kick came after Diego Reyes was pushed and fell in the area - a penalty that was not disputed by the Colombians.

Colombia equalized in the 60th, taking advantage of a mistake by Mexico keeper Jose Rodriguez. Duvan Zapata let loose with a long-range shot that bounced once and passed between the legs of Rodriguez as he was dropping to his knees.

Rivera entered in the 36th minute as a substitute for Alan Pulido, who went out with an injury.

“It was my turn to author two important goals,” Rivera said. “I think we deserved this.”

Colombia outshot Mexico 21-9 in the match, but many of its shots were off-target - unlike Mexico’s.

Meanwhile, the quarterfinal loss was just more bad news for Argentina.

Argentina’s senior team was knocked out of the quarterfinals of the continental championship, the Copa America, at home in July, which led to the firing of coach Sergio Batista.

Argentina’s Under-20 coach Walter Perazzo acknowledged during the tournament that his team needed to reach the semifinals for him to keep his job.

After being locked 0-0 following extra time, Portugal won the shootout 5-4 when goalkeeper Mika stopped the last attempt from Nicolas Tagliafico.

Portugal, which has not allowed a goal in five matches in the tournament, is going for its third U-20 title following wins in 1989 and 1991.

“The victories are all different, but this has been the most satisfying,” Portugal coach Ilidio Vale said.

Argentina led the shootout 3-1 and needed only to convert one of its next two chances. Leandro Gonzalez Pirez drove his attempt into the crossbar and Alan Ruiz was then stopped by Mika with a diving save to his left.

As the Argentines missed, Portugal converted its next two to level it at 3-3.

Portugal’s Tiago Ferreira made it 4-3 and Argentina leveled at 4-4 when Agustin Vuletich converted. Portugal’s Sergio Oliveira then made it 5-4, setting the stage for Mika to bat away Tagliafico’s attempt.