{"id":512063,"date":"2026-07-06T08:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512063\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T08:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:18:09","slug":"england-fans-erupt-in-auckland-as-bellingham-double-sinks-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512063\/","title":{"rendered":"England fans erupt in Auckland as Bellingham double sinks Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheThe energy was high this afternoon among Three Lions supporters. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

\u201cSo happy, so happy,\u201d one fan told the Herald. \u201cWe got it, we\u2019re confident. Football\u2019s coming home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mood did shift briefly when Jarell Quansah was shown a red card, leaving England to see out the match a man down.<\/p>\n

But captain Harry Kane\u2019s 60th minute penalty kick restored belief, and after a tense closing spell, England held out for a 3-2 victory – prompting jubilant scenes as fans danced to football anthem GALA\u2019s Freed from Desire.<\/p>\n

The result books England a place in the quarter-finals, keeping alive hopes of ending the nation\u2019s long wait for another World Cup title.<\/p>\n

Fans had paid for tickets to attend the near sold-out watch party, many arriving well before the scheduled kick-off despite the delay.<\/p>\n

The highly anticipated Round of 16 clash at Mexico City\u2019s Estadio Azteca had been preceded by concerns over England\u2019s ability to adapt to the stadium\u2019s high-altitude conditions.<\/p>\n

\"EnglandEngland supporters erupted into celebration as Jude Bellingham scored twice in 99 seconds. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Despite rumours the squad might use Viagra to help cope with the thinner air, Tuchel dismissed the speculation at a pre-match press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe information and the support didn\u2019t reach me, so that\u2019s not true\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

The build-up was also heated, with Mexican fans filmed gathering outside the England team\u2019s hotel on Sunday night before the Three Lions travelled to the stadium.<\/p>\n

England last played at the iconic venue in 1986, when the World Cup quarter-final became infamous for Diego Maradona\u2019s controversial \u201cHand of God\u201d goal.<\/p>\n

They will now face Norway in the quarter-finals on July 12, with The Fox expecting another packed house as fans dare to dream that football really might be coming home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The energy was high this afternoon among Three Lions supporters. Photo \/ Dean Purcell \u201cSo happy, so happy,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9092,806,51,249389,254743,10474,8609,1634,168094,6381,9517,78,29118,254744,52169,6820,111,139,69,26818,213,1529],"class_list":["post-512063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-against","tag-as","tag-auckland","tag-bellingham","tag-bellinghams","tag-control","tag-double","tag-england","tag-erupt","tag-erupted","tag-fans","tag-in","tag-jude","tag-lightningfast","tag-lions","tag-mexico","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sinks","tag-sports","tag-three"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}