Monday 6th July 2026 – Result.
This was a game of two halves – no, really, it was. In the first half England was playing in a football match which they led 2-1 at the end of with two goals by Jude Bellingham at 36′ and 38′ and one from Mexico by Julián Quiñones at 42′.
Somehow that seems perfectly normal to say as England appeared not bothered by the Azteca’s altitude, delays for weather, sheer size, crowd partisanship, playing surface or historic nature of the occasion let alone being participants in the last 16 knockout round of the 2026 World Cup.
So there it was, just another football match … until it wasn’t at 54′ when Jarell Quansah was red carded and England was down to 10 men.
Now England, Mexico, 87,000 people in the Azteca and a good few million others tuned in by media were players and audience for a second half drama of football. It had tension, anxiety, hope, belief and fear churning away as Mexico’s 11 pressured England’s 10 to concede goals and let Mexico romp home to a consecutive 23rd victory on home turf and a coveted place in the quarter finals for one of the competition’s three co-host countries.
And although Mexico had 59% of the possession in the game and 20 attempts on goal with 12 from inside the penalty area England had regrouped through substitution to bolster defences and was standing firm against this continuous onslaught.
Both sides traded penalties amongst the second half drama with England first getting a relief-making 3-1 lead at 60′ via Mr H Kane before Mexico put the match firmly back into the cauldron of anxiety with theirs just 9 minutes later by Raul Jiminenz. There it stood at 3-2.
Commentators supporting England were convinced the stadium clocks were running slow while those for Mexico swore blind they’d been sped up by nefarious English interests. That time did its own cruel things to all sides, players and viewers alike, meant it undoubtedly had a good chuckle when 11 minutes were added to the game for stoppage and a final little snigger when that slipped into being 12 or even maybe 13.
But then it was over. The stadium where Brazil won the world cup in 1970 and Argentina in 1986, where Maradona in the same competition scored two polar-opposite sensational goals against his English opposition (by hand and by foot), and where Mexico has slaughtered the last 22 teams they have ‘welcomed’ proved to be in totality no match for the determination of ten English men with the strength of eleven English lions.
Match highlights in this quickie Fifa video, no ads, Mexico in green & England in white (opens in a new tab):
https://www.fifa.com/en/watch/UtO24MbZ8ce7YLpu6NMsM
So it’s off to the Quarter Finals on Saturday July 11th against Norway in Miami, Florida. KO at 10pm BST.