Mexico ends 40-year knockout drought, beats Ecuador to advance to Round of 16

MEXICO CITY (AP) – Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored goals in a nine-minute span in the first half and Mexico defeated Ecuador 2-0 on Tuesday night to break a 40-year drought without a win in the knockout stage and progressed to the World Cup round of 16.

Quiñones opened the scoring in the 22nd minute while Jiménez added a strike in the 31st minute for the Mexicans, who had not won a knockout-stage match since defeating Bulgaria in the round of 16 when they hosted the tournament in 1986.

Mexico subsequently lost seven consecutive times at that same stage from 1994 to 2018.

In 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-best 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 a tie with Jared Borgetti. He is five away from tying “Chicharito” Hernández as the all-time leading scorer for Mexico.

Mexico will play another home match Sunday against the winner of Wednesday’s match between England and Congo.

Playing at the iconic Azteca Stadium, the Mexican squad boasts an undefeated record across 10 World Cup matches. Mexico has just two official losses at the venue — the last being a World Cup qualifying defeat to Honduras on Sept. 6, 2013.

With the win, Mexico extended its unbeaten run to 12 games, dating back to a friendly loss against Paraguay in November.

Mexico also became the first CONCACAF side to eliminate a CONMEBOL side in a World Cup knockout match. Teams from South America won the previous five meetings.

Ecuador was trying to advance to the round of 16 for the second time in their history and the first since Germany 2006.

The match started one hour after the original scheduled time due to a thunderstorm.

It was the second match of the tournament affected by weather. A storm during the France-Iraq match at Philadelphia on June 22 caused a 2-hour, 11-minute suspension at the end of the first half.