Mexico turned on the style at their iconic Azteca Stadium on Tuesday, brushing Ecuador aside 2-0 to break their World Cup knockout curse dating back 40 years.
The round-of-32 match was delayed for an hour due to stormy weather and when it started the co-hosts flew out of the blocks, mounting wave after wave of attacks.
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MATCH CENTRE: Norway defeats Ivory Coast 2-1
MATCH CENTRE: France defeats Sweden 3-0
MATCH CENTRE: Mexico defeats Ecuador 2-0
FULL SCHEDULE: FIFA WORLD CUP FIXTURES AND RESULTS
In a supercharged atmosphere, Julian Quinones gave Mexico a deserved lead midway through the first half with a thunderous strike and then turned provider for Raul Jimenez.
Ecuador desperately needed to wrest back the momentum after the break but struggled to shift through the gears, with the home side largely in control.
Mexico had not won a World Cup knockout game since 1986, when they last hosted the tournament.
Tuesday’s win means they are now unbeaten in 10 World Cup games at the Azteca and will fancy their chances against England or the Democratic Republic of Congo in the round of 16.
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Mexico were one of only three teams in the group phase to win all three of their matches, alongside France and Argentina, and did not concede a single goal.
Ecuador finished third in their group, scoring just two goals. Gilberto Mora, 17, was named in the starting line-up for Mexico, becoming the second-youngest player to start a knockout match at the World Cup finals behind Pele in 1958.
Ecuador’s WC campaign ends on sour note | 00:31
The home team started on the front foot, refusing to allow a shell-shocked Ecuador to settle.
Jimenez wasted a glorious headed chance in the seventh minute and Mora flashed just wide.
At the other end, John Yeboah muscled his way into the penalty area in a rare foray forward for the visitors, clipping the outside of the near post.
Mexico took the lead in the 22nd minute when Saudi-based Quinones received the ball from Roberto Alvarado and tore down the left before driving into the box and unleashing an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Hernan Galindez, raising the roof.
The first hydration break failed to change the script and Mexico doubled their lead after half an hour when Quinones fed Fulham striker Jimenez, who fired a rocket into the top corner.
Raul Rangel produced a fine save to keep out another Yeboah effort as Ecuador got a foothold in the match but chances kept flowing at the other end.
Ecuador coach Sebastian Beccacece made a number of changes after the break in an effort to find a way back into the match.
But Mexico, largely content to sit back, still looked the more threatening team, with Cesar Montes twice going close.
Ecuador substitute Kevin Rodriguez poked just wide with just over a quarter of an hour but their chances ran out.
Piero Hincapie was sent off in stoppage time after covering his mouth during a confrontation with an opposition player to cap a miserable night for Ecuador.
Mexico will hope the Azteca, which hosted the World Cup final in 1970 and 1986, works its magic again in the last 16 on Sunday.
From the quarter-finals onwards, all the matches at the World Cup will be taking place in the United States.
‘DON’T KNOW HOW YOU STOP THAT: SUPERB FRANCE ADVANCE
Kylian Mbappe scored twice and Michael Olise was in scintillating formas France beat Sweden 3-0 at the World Cup on Tuesday and set up a last-16 clash with Paraguay.
Mbappe finished a superb move to break the deadlock just before half-time in the last-32 tie watched by 80,663 at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, after France had already hit the woodwork twice – once through Mbappe and once through Olise.
The French were on top throughout against a limited Swedish side, utterly dominating in terms of possession and shots on goal.
Olise set up Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola for the second on 53 minutes, and then delivered a delightful pass for Mbappe to complete a convincing victory.
Mbappe’s strikes saw him move level with Lionel Messi on six goals in the all-star golden boot race at this World Cup.
The France captain now has 18 World Cup goals in total, meaning he is just one behind Messi’s overall record of 19 – a mark which 27-year-old Mbappe will keep chasing.
He celebrated his first goal by running across to embrace coach Didier Deschamps, who missed France’s final group game against Norway to travel home for his mother’s funeral.
Deschamps will step down at the end of the competition after 14 highly successful years in charge.
Going out in the last 32 would have been such an anti-climactic way to depart for Deschamps, who captained the first France team to win the World Cup in 1998 and coached them to glory in 2018.
In 1998, France’s run to victory on home soil included a 1-0 last-16 win over Paraguay, when Laurent Blanc scored a golde ngoal in extra time.
Les Bleus will face the South Americans in the last 16 again this time, on Saturday in Philadelphia.
France will be fully expected to win and march on.
“It’s a real statement,” former England defender Gary Neville said on ITV Sport.
“We know they’re the favourites for the tournament, but what we say was precision, devastation.
“I always look at games from a defensive perspective – those four (attacking players) that started the game will cause nightmares for every single defender at this tournament and I don’t know how you stop that.
“It’s a level above. Brazil won in the last minute, Germany and the Netherlands went out. They’re just showing everybody in this round how to do it.”
Mbappe and Olise were again central figures, with Ousmane Dembele also showing flashes of his brilliance while Barcola was preferred to Desire Doue as the fourth forward.
Sweden have quality in attack too, with the Premier League trio of Viktor Gyokeres, Alexander Isak and Anthony Elanga. But they couldn’t get enough of the ball to create chances and Graham Potter’s team now go home.
Getting this far should really be seen as a success for them, however, after they only made it to North America through the back door of the play-offs.
Olise released Mbappe through the middle to put the ball in the net in the 20th minute, only for a tight offside call to cut short the celebrations.
However, that sparked an intense spell of French pressure which eventually resulted in the opening goal.
Some of their football was mesmerising, as Mbappe hit the post from a Jules Kounde ball across the face of goal and Adrien Rabiot fired narrowly over.
Olise then struck an upright with a breathtaking overhead bicycle kick before Dembele put the rebound wide.
The opener came right on half-time, after an Olise effort was tipped behind by Swedish ‘keeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.
Dembele and Olise combined at the resulting corner before finding Mbappe, and he did the rest.
Sweden needed the interval to regroup, but they conceded again eight minutes after the restart as the magical Olise threaded a pass through the legs of Gustaf Lagerbielke for Barcola, who lashed in.
Olise couldn’t score when clean through, but soon after he delivered an exceptional assist for Mbappe to curl in again on 74 minutes.
France look untouchable even if the toughest tests are still to come, although Paraguay will find it hard to live with them.
HAALAND’S LATE WINNER IN HISTORIC FIRST
Erling Haaland scored a late winner as Norway set up a last-16 showdown with Brazil at the World Cup after taming the Ivory Coast 2-1 in Texas on Tuesday.
The Manchester City striker prodded in from close range, the ball dribbling in on 86 minutes for his fifth goal of the tournament.
The goal left his former professional footballing father, Alf, notably emotional in the stands.
It was the first time that Norway had won a knockout game in the history of the competition.
“Norway are a very good team, and purely because of that man. Because of his goals, he has proven that he belongs at this World Cup level,” former England striker Wayne Roney said of Haaland on BBC One.
“He is just devastating. He wasn’t in the game much, but he came up with the winning goal.”
After an even first half that was slow to get going, Antonio Nusa fired Norway into the lead six minutes before the break with one of the goals of the tournament.
Manchester United’s Amad Diallo was sent on for the Ivory Coast after an hour and was immediately in the thick of it, stopping a certain second Norway goal and then grabbing a terrific equaliser on 74 minutes.
With extra time looming, predator supreme Haaland got on the end of a cross by Patrick Berg to make some Norwegian history.
They face five-time champions Brazil on Sunday in New Jersey with the quarter-finals at stake.
A match between two physical teams was tepid to begin with at the impressive air-conditioned home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Ivory Coast had a sight of goal after 20 minutes, defender Ghislain Konan bursting into the Norway box from the left but finding the side netting.
The Ivory Coast players and fans were irate just before the drinks break when the livewire Yan Diomande was brought down on the break just inside his own half.
Referee Jesus Valenzuela surprisingly did not even book defender David Moller Wolfe.
The 19-year-old winger Diomande, who appears set to join European champions Paris Saint-Germain from RB Leipzig, was growing into the game.
The African side, one of the youngest at the tournament, were on top and particularly threatening down Diomande’s left-hand side of the pitch.
Haaland had little to feed on but might have done better with a tame header that bounced into the hands of goalkeeper Yahia Fofana.
Then came a moment of genuine class as Nusa, fed by captain Martin Odegaard, cut inside and bent the ball wonderfully into the top corner.
Odegaard put his hands on his head in disbelief at the strike by the 21-year-old, Diomande’s Leipzig teammate.
Stale Solbakken’s Norway finished the first half on the hunt for a second and Haaland was denied by a last-gasp block by Ibrahim Sangare, who celebrated as if scoring a goal.
The Ivory Coast, into the knockout rounds for the first time, won their 10th corner to start the second half.
Nicolas Pepe was denied by the legs of Norway stopper Orjan Nyland as the Ivory Coast piled on the pressure.
Norway, runners-up to France in the group stage, were inches away from a second when Diallo blocked the ball on the goal line following a corner.
The Norway fans, sensing the next round was close, began their now-famous rowing in the stands.
Almost as soon as they stopped, Diallo danced into the box past two challenges for a spectacular leveller.
Then up popped Haaland to break Ivorian hearts, with goalkeeper Nyland pulling off a flying stop from Diallo’s well-struck free kick at the death to send Norway through.