Ten-man England fended off a late wave of frenzied attacks from Mexico, standing tall through 11 minutes of stoppage time to defeat El Tri 3-2 and advance to the World Cup quarterfinals.
The result ends Mexico’s participation in the global soccer tournament as both a team and co-host, Sunday night’s game being the 13th and final match to be played in Mexico.
After a domineering start to the round of 16 match, Mexico’s hopes were dampened late in the first half when Jude Bellingham netted twice in less than two minutes. The double gut-punch muted the roar of the 80,000+ soggy El Tri fans in Mexico City Stadium who had weathered a one-hour rain delay — and exorbitant ticket prices.
The first goal came completely against the run of play, El Tri getting caught too far forward then failing to react quickly enough as Declan Rice raced 60 yards down the right flank.
Rice forwarded a pass to Bukayo Saka who dribbled past Jesús Gallardo before chipping a cross into the path of Bellingham who was trailing the play. The unmarked Real Madrid midfielder headed the ball home past a helpless Raúl Rangel.
It was the first goal the Mexico ’keeper had allowed all tournament long, but just 100 seconds later he was digging the ball out of his net a second time.
Pressure from winger Anthony Gordon dispossessed Gilberto Mora shortly after the restart, Bellingham recovered the ball about 40 meters from goal and fed Harry Kane into the box to the right of goal. Kane cut a pass back across the crease and Bellingham got his right foot to the ball just ahead of Erik Lira’s block attempt, poking it into the net on the back side.
To Mexico’s credit, the team responded quickly, refusing to be counted out.
Julián Quiñones cut the deficit in half just 4 minutes later, volleying a loose ball into the roof of the net off a Roberto Alvarado free kick.
The “Azteca” came roaring back to life, groaning audibly just 5 minutes later when England goalie Jordan Pickford made a sparkling save of a Raúl Jiménez header that was ticketed for the upper left corner.
It was the second time Pickford denied Jiménez. In minute 15, the Everton netminder palmed aside a low header destined to skitter inside his left post.
Mexico dominated possession throughout the match (66% by game’s end), helped by the dismissal of defender Jarrel Quansah in minute 53 for a rash tackle on Gallardo.
The teams traded penalty kicks in the second half (Kane boosting England’s lead to 3-1 in minute 60 and Jiménez converting for Mexico nine minutes later), but El Tri’s desperate attempts to find the equalizer thereafter went unanswered.
Mexico’s strategy of sending in volleys of crosses was to the advantage of the taller and disciplined England side. With Pickford masterfully commanding the box, both interceptions and punch-outs, the Three Lions ended the game only allowing five of Mexico’s 21 shots to reach the target.
The agonizing loss was just the third time El Tri had tasted defeat in an official match at Estadio Azteca and it came exactly 40 years and two weeks after Argentina’s Diego Maradona broke English hearts at the same venue in the 1986 World Cup.
Game notes
Sunday night’s thriller was the 24th World Cup game played in Estadio Azteca (now Estadio Banorte), more than any other stadium in history. The iconic venue in southern Mexico City hosted 10 games in 1970, including “The Game of the Century” (Italy’s 4-3 overtime victory over Germany) and another nine in 1986 (including Maradona’s Hand of God and his 60-meter slaloming masterpiece, both against England).
Mexico was 7-2-0 at Estadio Azteca in World Cup matches heading into the clash with England. El Tri had outscored opponents 15-2, including a perfect 3-0-0 record (6 goals for, 0 goals against) at this year’s Cup.
El Tri’s overall record at Estadio Azteca in competitive matches is now 70 wins, 17 draws and three losses. Its other two losses are:
— 2-1 to Costa Rica in a June 16, 2001, World Cup qualifier
— 3-1 to Honduras in a Sept. 13, 2013, World Cup qualifier
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