FIFA World Cup 2026 | Round of 32 | Tuesday, 1 July 2026 Estadio Ciudad de México (Azteca), Mexico City | Referee: Slavko Vinčič
The kick-off was supposed to be at 7pm. It did not start until 8pm. Lightning had rolled across Mexico City and the players waited in the dressing rooms while the storm passed and the groundstaff cleared standing water from the pitch. An hour of delay. Eighty thousand people sitting in their seats at the Azteca, waiting.
When the referee finally blew his whistle, Mexico were ready within minutes. They did not need a second invitation.
<cite index=”22-1″>Mexico turned on the style at their iconic Azteca Stadium on Tuesday, brushing Ecuador aside 2-0 to break their FIFA World Cup knockout curse dating back 40 years.</cite> Julián Quiñones opened the scoring with a thunderous finish in the 22nd minute. Raúl Jiménez doubled it nine minutes later. <cite index=”26-1″>Mexico become the second co-hosts to book their place in the round of 16, ending a 40-year wait for a victory in the knockout stages.</cite>
Mexico had not won a World Cup knockout game since 1986 — the last time they hosted this tournament. Forty years of quarter-final exits at the round of 16, ten consecutive tournaments without advancing past the last 16 at other editions. The curse, the meme, the weight of the number that every Mexican football supporter carried into every major tournament. Gone.
The early minutes had their own tension. <cite index=”22-1″>Jiménez wasted a glorious headed chance in the seventh minute.</cite> Then Yeboah drove forward for Ecuador, muscled into the box and clipped the outside of the post. Warning signs on both sides. The crowd inside the Azteca were already loud enough to rattle the stands. The atmosphere was extraordinary even in the early stages of a match where nothing had gone in.
Then Quiñones. In the 22nd minute, Roberto Alvarado found him in space inside the Ecuador half. <cite index=”22-1″>Quiñones received the ball from Roberto Alvarado and tore down the left before driving into the box and unleashing an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Hernan Galindez, raising the roof.</cite> A golazo. The ball hit the top corner so hard and so fast that Galindez barely tracked its flight path. The Azteca went up. Eighty thousand people, already on edge after the weather delay, released everything at once.
The hydration break arrived. Mexico barely paused. Nine minutes later they were two up.
<cite index=”23-1″>Jiménez doubled Mexico’s lead pouncing on an error from Joel Ordóñez before a give and go with Quiñones saw him rifling a shot into the corner of the net.</cite> His second of the tournament. The same Raúl Jiménez who had wept on the pitch after scoring against South Africa in the opener — the man who fractured his skull in 2020, who came back and kept playing, who scored his first-ever World Cup goal at this tournament and broke down completely. He celebrated this one with more composure. Both arms out, head up, looking toward the crowd.
Ecuador needed the second half. They did not get it. <cite index=”26-1″>Beccacece’s team resorted to hopeful crosses from deep that failed to produce many chances in the second half, with Rodríguez’s mishit effort in front of an oncoming Rangel the lone exception.</cite> Ecuador’s only real threat across the whole match had come from John Yeboah — two attempts on the right side that tested Rangel, the first hitting the post before Galindez saved. After that, not much. Ecuador finished the match with an xG of 0.73. Mexico had 1.02.
The end had its own drama. Piero Hincapié — the Arsenal defender who had been solid in the second half — pushed his forehead into Giménez’s face looking for a reaction in the final minutes. He covered his mouth to say something and the referee, following a new World Cup directive that makes obstructing your mouth while having heated words with an opponent a dismissible offence, went to the VAR monitor. <cite index=”26-1″>After pushing his forehead into the face of Gimenez in search of a reaction, the Arsenal defender covers his mouth and has something to say to the substitute striker, who immediately alerts the referee.</cite> Red card. Hincapié off. Ecuador finished with ten men. Moises Caicedo picked up a yellow in the ninth minute of added time for a late lunge on Pineda.
The Azteca barely noticed. The celebration had already been going for the best part of an hour.
<cite index=”24-1″>Quiñones has four goal contributions already and has matched Luis Hernández’s 1998 record for the most contributions in a single World Cup since 1966 for a Mexican player.</cite> His performance — one goal, one assist, constant movement and pressure that had Ecuador’s defence scrambling throughout — was the best individual showing of the match. Javier Aguirre, who had been on that 1986 squad when Mexico were eliminated by Germany in the quarter-finals, finally got to experience the other side of a World Cup knockout win as a manager.
England await in the Round of 16 at this same Azteca. Sunday. The ground that matters most to Mexican football, the stadium that carries the history of the 1970 and 1986 finals, hosting a match between two of the tournament’s most emotionally invested fanbases.
Eighty thousand of them will be there. Every single one of them will remember tonight.
For live World Cup scores and Round of 16 coverage, visit fawanews.org.uk. Full results, standings and knockout bracket at the official FIFA World Cup website.
Mexico 2-0 Ecuador FIFA World Cup 2026, Round of 32 | Tuesday, 1 July 2026 Estadio Ciudad de México (Azteca), Mexico City | Referee: Slavko Vinčič
Goals: Julián Quiñones 22′ (assist: Roberto Alvarado), Raúl Jiménez 31′ (give-and-go with Quiñones)
Red Card: Piero Hincapié 90’+5′ (Ecuador — covering mouth while having confrontational words with opponent, VAR review, straight red) Yellow Cards: Moisés Caicedo 90’+9′ (Ecuador, serious foul on Pineda)
Kick-off delayed one hour due to lightning and stormy weather
Mexico (4-3-3): Rangel; Sánchez, Montes, Vásquez, Gallardo; Romo, Lira, Mora; Alvarado (Reyes 76′), Jiménez, Quiñones (Pineda 76′)
Ecuador: Galindez; Hincapié, Ordóñez, Pacho, Preciado; Caicedo M., Gruezo (Caicedo J. 78′); Vite, Plata; Yeboah (Paez 78′), Cifuentes (Rodríguez 65′)
Stats: Possession Mexico 37% — Ecuador 52% (11% contested) | Attempts 15-7 | On Target 3-1 | xG Mexico 1.02 — Ecuador 0.73 | Half-time: 2-0
Records: Mexico’s first World Cup knockout win since 1986 — 40-year wait ended. Quiñones — four goal contributions, matches Luis Hernández’s 1998 record for most contributions in a single World Cup by a Mexican player since 1966.
Round of 16: Mexico vs England (Estadio Azteca, Sunday July 6)
