Forty years later, Mexico one again won a knockout stage in a World Cup after defeating Ecuador by a 2-0 score. Mexico thus ended the curse of the “Quinto Partido” after losing 7 straight knockout matches. While the changes in the tournament means that Mexico only makes the Round of 16 (which they did in those 7 straight World Cups), they did get their second ever victory in a knockout stage of the World Cup. Mexico will remain in Mexico and in Estadio Azteca as they face off against England on Sunday,
as they tried to get to the Quarterfinals for their third time ever.
The 1st half started with Mexico having the return of key players to the starting 11 like Raul Jimenez, Erik Lira and Johan Vasquez. Mexico went all out on offense and Roberto Alvarado got off a left footed shot that was blocked by Ecuador’s defense. Gilberto Mora got off a right footed shot that went just wide. A great cross into the area from Luis Romo was headed just wide by Jimenez, who was alone in the area, in a bad miss. Mexico kept coming as Ecuador was reeling. After getting the ball in the area, Mora got off a great right footed shot that would just miss wide. Ecuador had their first chance when John Yeboah got off a left footed shot from inside the area that forced a great save from Mexico’s goalkeeper, Raul Rangel but the ref incorrectly ruled it as going wide, failing to give a corner kick chance to Ecuador. Off a quick give and go, Mora made a fantastic lobbed pass that had Julian Quiñones go thru and make a run into the area, get off a great right footed shot past Ecuador’s goalkeeper, Hernan Galindez, and into the net to score a great goal that gave Mexico the 1-0 lead. It was a well deserved goal as Quiñones became only the 2nd ever Mexico to score more than 2 goals in a single World Cup (Luis Hernandez in 1998 being the only one before as he scored 4 times). After mistaken pass from Joel Ordoñez to Mexico’s attack, a good combination play between Quiñones and Raul Jimenez, ended with Jimenez getting off a great right footed shot past Galindez to score and give Mexico the 2-0 lead. It was another great play from Mexico as Jimenez proved to be up to the challenge in hustling and getting off a shot in that play, making up for his earlier miss. A left footed shot from Yeboah forced Rangel to make a fantastic save. A cross into the area was headed by Jimenez but went wide. A volley from Jimenez would just be missed by Mora from being headed from close range.
The 2nd half started with Ecuador subbing out Joel Ordoñez and Alan Franco for Angelo Preciado and Yaimar Medina. After getting the ball in the area, Alvarado got off a left footed shot that went wide. Pedro Vite got off a left footed shot from outside the area that went wide. Mexico subbed out Gilberto Mora for Brian Gutierrez. Ecuador subbed out Enner Valencia for Kevin Rodriguez. Off a corner kick, Cesar Montes would get off a close range header that forced a wonderful save from Galindez. In the ensuing corner kick, Montes would once again get a close range header that would go just wide. Mexico subbed out Raul Jimenez and Luis Romo for Santiago Gimenez and Obed Vargas. A long ball into the area would be lowered by Rodriguez, who got off a shot past a slow Rangel but the ball would go wide. Ecuador subbed out Nilson Angulo and John Yeboah for Jordy Caicedo and Kendry Paez. Mexico subbed out Julian Quiñones and Roberto Alvarado for Orbelin Pineda and Israel Reyes. Off a counter, a great pass from Gimenez had Pineda getting into the area but the ball was cleared off his feet by Moises Caicedo. After getting the ball in the area, Pineda got off a right footed shot that went just wide. After Piero Hincapie covered his mouth to insult Gimenez, the player went to the referee and after going to VAR, the Ecuadorean defender got red carded. The final whistle blew and with a great performance, Mexico had booked their ticket to the Round of 16.
Mexico made history on the last day of June. For only their second time in their history, Mexico won a knockout match in a World Cup. In the same stadium they defeated Bulgaria in 1986, Mexico defeated Ecuador with a reat performance. In what was clearly the best Mexican performance in the World Cup so far, Mexico dominated the match from the start against an Ecuador side that many thought would be a tough test for Mexico. Mexico though proved to be improving and after a great 2nd half against Czechia, they followed with an even better 1st half, one of the best 45 minutes played by Mexico in a World Cup. Although Mexico lowered their level in the 2nd half, it was mostly done to counter attack and it paid off as while Ecuador had most of the possession, they created few chances at all and Mexico even had the better ones. Mexico will now face off against England in the Round of 16 in the final match to be played in Estadio Azteca in the 2026 World Cup. While Mexico will have a much tougher task against one of the candidates to win the World Cup, they will also face a team that has struggled somewhat after their opener against Croatia and who have never played in the altitude of Estadio Azteca (while they did so in the 1986 World Cup, it’s obvious that all those players have been retired for decades). A good style and their good performance so far, with 4 wins out of 4 matches and without yet allowing a goal, has the local fans eager to see what they can do against England.
