Mexico City, July 1: Mexico ended a 40-year wait by defeating Ecuador 2-0 in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match on Wednesday to secure a place in the Round of 16. Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored within nine minutes of each other in the first half to seal the victory for Mexico.
Quiñones opened the scoring in the 22nd minute to give Mexico the lead, while Jiménez strengthened the team's position by scoring the second goal in the 31st minute.
This marks Mexico's first victory in the World Cup knockout stage since 1986. That year, Mexico advanced past the Round of 16 by defeating Bulgaria on home soil. Since then, the team had been eliminated in the Round of 16 at the 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 World Cups. At the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Mexico failed to progress beyond the group stage.
Quiñones and Jiménez set new records
This was Quiñones' third goal of the tournament. He is now jointly the second-highest goal scorer for Mexico in World Cup history. Only Luis "Matador" Hernández and Javier "Chicharito" Hernández are ahead of him, with four goals each.
Meanwhile, Raúl Jiménez scored his 47th international goal for the national team, surpassing Jared Borgetti. He is now just five goals short of Chicharito's national record of 52 goals.
Azteca Stadium remains unbeaten
Mexico has an outstanding World Cup record at the iconic Azteca Stadium. The team has never lost in its 10 World Cup matches played there. Officially, Mexico has suffered only two defeats at this venue, the most recent coming against Honduras in a 2013 World Cup qualifier.
With this victory, Mexico also extended its unbeaten run across all competitions to 12 consecutive matches.
History made
With this win, Mexico became the first CONCACAF nation to defeat a South American team in the knockout stage of the World Cup. Before this, all five previous knockout encounters between teams from the two confederations had been won by South American sides.
Mexico will now face the winner of the Round of 16 match between England and Congo.
The match began one hour later than scheduled due to severe thunderstorms, which forced a delay. It was the second match of the 2026 World Cup to be affected by bad weather.
