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Julian Quinones and Raúl Jiménez scored goals in nine first-half minutes and Mexico beat Ecuador 2-0 on Tuesday night to end a 40-year winless drought in the knockout stage and advance to the World Cup round of 16.
Quiñones opened the scoring in the 22nd minute while Jiménez added a goal in the 31st minute for the Mexicans, who had not won a knockout match since beating Bulgaria in the round of 16 while hosting the tournament in 1986.
Mexico then lost seven consecutive times at the same stadium from 1994 to 2018.
At Qatar 2022, they were eliminated in the group stage for the first time since Argentina in 1978.
It was Quiñones’ third goal of the tournament and he is now El Tri’s second highest scorer in World Cup history behind Luis “Matador” Hernández and Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, who scored four each.
Jiménez scored his second goal of the tournament and has 47 with the national team to break the tie with Jared Borgetti. He is five points away from tying “Chicharito” Hernández as Mexico’s all-time leading scorer.
Mexico will play another home match on Sunday against the winner of Wednesday’s match between England and Congo.
Playing at the iconic Azteca Stadium, the Mexican team boasts an unbeaten record in 10 World Cup matches. Mexico has only recorded two official defeats at this venue, the last being a World Cup qualifying loss to Honduras on September 6, 2013.
With the victory, Mexico extended their unbeaten run to 12 matches, dating back to a friendly defeat against Paraguay in November.
Mexico also became the first CONCACAF team to eliminate a CONMEBOL team in a World Cup knockout match. South American teams have won the previous five meetings.
Ecuador was trying to qualify for the round of 16 for the second time in its history and the first since Germany 2006.
The match started an hour after the originally scheduled time due to a thunderstorm.
It was the second match of the tournament affected by weather. A storm during the France-Iraq match in Philadelphia on June 22 caused a suspension of 2 hours and 11 minutes at the end of the first half.
Associated Press reporting.
