Mexico end a 40-year knockout wait by beating Ecuador to reach the last 16
Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez struck inside the opening half-hour as Mexico beat Ecuador 2-0 at the Estadio Azteca to win a World Cup knockout tie for the first time since 1986.
Jul 1, 2026
For 40 years Mexico had not won a knockout match at a World Cup. That wait ended on Tuesday at the Estadio Azteca, where two first-half goals carried the co-hosts to a 2-0 win over Ecuador and a place in the last 16.
A storm over Mexico City pushed the kick-off back by an hour, but it did nothing to cool the home crowd or the home side. Julian Quinones cut inside from the right and drove a shot into the top corner in the 22nd minute, and nine minutes later Raul Jimenez pounced on a defensive slip, played a quick one-two with Quinones and rifled the second into the corner. Ecuador never really recovered from that spell.
The end of a very long wait
The year that shadowed this fixture was 1986. That was the last time Mexico had come through a World Cup knockout round, beating Bulgaria 2-0 at this same stadium in the tournament they hosted. The scoreline on Tuesday was identical, the venue was the same, and the symbolism was not lost on anyone inside the Azteca.
In between came the frustration. Mexico reached the round of 16 at seven consecutive World Cups from 1994 to 2018 and lost every one of them, then went out in the group stage in 2022. The quarter-finals, a stage they have reached only when hosting, still sit out of reach. But beating Ecuador clears the first hurdle that had tripped them up for a generation, and it does so in front of their own supporters.
Ecuador undone, then down to ten
Ecuador had beaten Germany in the group stage and arrived with real belief, yet they could find no way back once they trailed. Their night got worse in second-half stoppage time when Piero Hincapie was sent off under one of the tournament’s new laws, which orders an automatic red card for any player who covers his mouth while speaking to an opponent or the referee. Hincapie leaned his head into Santiago Gimenez and then shielded his mouth as he spoke, and Slavko Vincic produced the card. Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron had been dismissed for the same offence in the group stage.
The sending-off was a footnote by then. Mexico had managed the second half with the composure of a side that finally believed the old story was over, keeping Ecuador at arm’s length and seeing the game out without alarm.
Azteca awaits again
Mexico stay in Mexico City for the last 16, where they will face the winner of England and DR Congo on Sunday. A team that spent four decades losing its first knockout game is now two wins from a World Cup semi-final on home soil, and the Azteca, for once, has a reason to believe the run can keep going.