A ten-man England knocked out co-hosts Mexico from the Round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup after a hard-fought and thrilling 3-2 victory on Sunday at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
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Despite playing for more than half an hour with ten men following Jarell Quansah's red card (54'), the Three Lions advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to an outstanding duo: Jude Bellingham (36' and 38') and Harry Kane (60' penalty). Meanwhile, Julián Quiñones (42') and Raúl Jiménez (69' penalty) scored Mexico's goals.
England set up a quarterfinal clash this Saturday in Miami against Norway, who knocked out Brazil 2-1 earlier.
England wrote a "special chapter," as their German manager Thomas Tuchel put it, at a stadium where they had previously tasted the agony of elimination against Argentina—a famous 1986 World Cup quarterfinal match where the late legend Diego Maradona scored with his hand against Gary Lineker and his teammates.
Mexico had relied heavily on the history of this venue, having lost only twice in 89 international matches prior to this clash.
A cagey opening period lasted about fifteen minutes until England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford tipped a Raúl Jiménez header away from the bottom left corner (15').
On the other end, Anthony Gordon tested his luck with a low drive comfortably saved by goalkeeper Raúl Rangel (26').
From a three-pass move that started with keeper Pickford, Bellingham opened the scoring by slipping through the defenders to head home a Bukayo Saka cross (36').
Before the Mexicans could recover from the shock of the opening goal, and while the English were still celebrating, Bellingham scored his second. Elliott Anderson intercepted a ball in midfield and passed it to Gordon, who found Kane. Kane sent a cross toward the Real Madrid midfielder, who slotted it into the net (38').
Just when Mexico seemed stunned by the two quick goals, Quiñones revived El Tri's hopes with a close-range shot into the roof of the net, capitalizing on a free kick that Jarell Quansah tried to clear from the penalty box (42').
With this goal, the Al-Qadsiah forward equaled the Mexican record for the most goals by a single player in a single World Cup tournament (4, sharing it with Luis Hernández in 1998).
Jiménez nearly brought things back to square one with a low shot that crept just wide of Pickford's left post (45+1'). Pickford then preserved his team's lead by blocking another header from the same forward (45+3'), before Bellingham brilliantly rescued the English goal by clearing a close-range ball right in front of César Montes (45+4').
Red Card and Two Penalties
The match took a dramatic turn in the second half when Quansah committed a foul on Jesús Gallardo. Iranian referee Alireza Faghani consulted the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) before showing a straight red card to the English player (54').
The 23-year-old became the first England player to be sent off in a World Cup since Wayne Rooney against Portugal in 2006.
Tuchel was forced to withdraw Saka for John Stones (57'), but the good news for the English came moments later when a pass from Kane reached Gordon, who went clean through against keeper Rangel and was brought down in the penalty area.
Kane stepped up to take the penalty, scoring his sixth goal of this tournament and his 15th in 17 World Cup matches (60').
However, Kane then committed a foul in his own box against substitute Brian Gutiérrez, resulting in a penalty after another VAR review. Jiménez stepped up to convert and reduce the deficit (69').
Substitute Santiago Giménez tried to equalize but fired his shot over the bar (81'), while fellow substitute Álvaro Fidalgo tried his luck with a long-range effort that was comfortably saved by Pickford (89').
With this loss, Mexico became the second host country to exit the tournament, following Canada’s elimination by Morocco, while the USA—the third host nation—faces Belgium on Tuesday.
AFP
