England produced their best display of the World Cup amid the passion and emotion of the Azteca Stadium to secure a dramatic victory over Mexico and set up a quarter-final against Norway.
On a night of sheer sporting theatre, with the game delayed by an hour because of severe storms, Thomas Tuchel’s side even survived Jarell Quansah’s red card early in the second half to record one of their finest wins in recent years.
Mexico had lost only two of 89 competitive games at their Azteca fortress, but England’s cool approach early on allowed them to take command when the outstanding Jude Bellingham scored twice in the space of 98 seconds before half-time.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was in superb form, twice saving brilliantly from Raul Jimenez, but he was powerless to stop Julian Quinones pulling a goal back for Mexico with a powerful finish three minutes before the break.
Mexico were being driven forward by a constant cacophony of sound, which increased when Quansah was sent off for a high challenge on Jesus Gallardo.
England, however, restored their two-goal lead when Harry Kane scored from the spot after Anthony Gordon was brought down by keeper Raul Rangel.
Just when England thought they had restored order, Kane was the culprit when he kicked Brian Gutierrez’s foot in the area, Jimenez scoring the resulting spot-kick.
With England under pressure and in a frantic atmosphere, Tuchel brought on Dan Burn and Djed Spence, reverting to a five-man defence to see out 11 minutes of stoppage time for a superb win.
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