By Gopal Ram Tripathi

England was ready to go toe-to-toe against Mexico in their iconic stadium of Estadio Azteca. Azteca stands upon an altitude of 2,240 meters above sea level, and due to its high elevation players can feel the thin air. Mexico has maintained their record for ages when it comes to facing teams in the Azteca with only 2 loses in all competitions but England came with a different appetite. 

Bellingham took only 3 minutes

A storm resulted in a delay for one hour, but once underway, Thomas Tuchel's side made a statement inside the opening 40 minutes. Both the teams seemed desperate to find an opening but it was Jude Bellingham who struck twice in quick succession. The first a headed finish from a Bukayo Saka cross after a driving run from Declan Rice, the second arriving barely 90 seconds later, to put England 2-0 ahead and silence the home support.

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Mexico hit back almost immediately through Julian Quinones, who volleyed home to halve the deficit before the break and give El Tri hope of a comeback in front of their own fans. Quinones is on his best run in this tournament, and today he showed up again.

And there were only 10 men

Now England faced a deficit further in the second half when defender Jarell Quansah was shown a straight red card in the 54th minute, following a VAR review, for a challenge on Jesus Gallardo. It didn’t stop the Lions at all and throughout the tournament they have proven that they can minimize the deficit they have faced. England responded almost instantly: captain Harry Kane converted a penalty on the hour mark after goalkeeper Raul Rangel brought down Anthony Gordon, Kane kept it calm and scored from the spot to push his team a bit further in the match.

Mexico were handed a route back into the game when Kane himself gave away a penalty, I guess Harry Kane was surely all over the place today. Raul Jimenez confidently swayed Pickford to make it 3-2. 30 more minutes for England to survive as the stoppage time added 11 minutes forcing England to defend with 10 men against sustained Mexican pressure. Mexico’s continuous attacks created chances but Pickford was called into action again to deny the hosts an equaliser, and the Three Lions held out until the final whistle.

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England broke the wall set by Mexico

The result ends Mexico's unbeaten record at the Estadio Azteca in this tournament and their run at a first World Cup quarter-final since 1986, the same year, and the same stadium, where England's own World Cup hopes were famously ended by Diego Maradona. This time, it was England celebrating, breaking the odds set by Mexico since.

Vikings are ready to raid again

Tuchel's side, who reached the final of the last two European Championships, will now travel to Miami to face Norway, inspired by Erling Haaland, in Saturday's quarter-final after Norway pulled off their own shock result earlier in the day, eliminating five-time champions Brazil. Can Haaland and co. upset the Three Lions or will it be England hoping to bring it home finally?

Kane's penalty took his tally to six goals for the tournament, one behind Kylian Mbappe, Haaland and Lionel Messi, while also matching Gerd Muller's mark of 14 career World Cup goals. 

For Mexico, the exit brings an emotional end to a run that had seen them dominate their group stage without conceding a goal, only to fall at the last-16 stage in front of their own supporters. 2 of the hosts have already exited the tournament and now it's up to USA to stretch further in the competition.

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