{"id":381910,"date":"2026-07-01T08:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/381910\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T08:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:56:15","slug":"mexico-ends-world-cup-knockout-round-drought-defeats-ecuador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/381910\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico ends World Cup knockout round drought, defeats Ecuador"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Mexico<\/a> once again enjoyed a night of celebration with its fans, this time after defeating an old nemesis \u2014 the knockout stage of the World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

El Tri won its first knockout match at a World Cup since 1986, beating Ecuador 2-0<\/a> on Tuesday night at the majestic Azteca Stadium packed with 80,824 fans.<\/p>\n

From 1994 to 2018, Mexico failed to win a World Cup knockout game and, in 2022, failed to advance past the group stage \u2014 its worst showing at a World Cup since 1978.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing joy to the fans is the best thing that can happen to us,\u201d Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said after the win. \u201cOur duty is to give it our all on the field. Our duty is to defend our crest and represent our country with dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to an expanded 48-team World Cup format with a knockout round of 32 teams and a formidable home-field advantage, Mexico achieved a goal that had seemed impossible.<\/p>\n

\"Mexico <\/p>\n

Mexico players celebrate after the World Cup round of 32 win over Ecuador in Mexico City on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

(Fernando Llano \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Ecuador, which finished second in the South American World Cup qualifiers, put up a strong fight, bombarding the Mexican team with crosses, albeit without much organization.<\/p>\n

Fans roared their approval for the Mexican national team, which took a lap of honor after the match, as the crowd sang \u201cEl Rey\u201d and other songs to express their love for their team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had great victories, but none like today\u2019s, because it\u2019s on home soil,\u201d Aguirre said.<\/p>\n

Juli\u00e1n Qui\u00f1ones scored the first goal for Mexico in the 22nd minute on a counterattack, while Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez added the second in the 31st minute, in a match where El Tri had numerous scoring opportunities against an Ecuador side that did not appear to be well-organized defensively despite having advanced after defeating Germany in the group stage. The victory over Germany helped Ecuador become one of the third-place finishers to advance to the knockout round.<\/p>\n

\u201cQui\u00f1ones is the most powerful player we have, and he\u2019s been scoring goals,\u201d said Aguirre, who praised his team\u2019s mentality and physical strength.<\/p>\n

Mexico will play one more match in Mexico City, facing the winner of the England versus the Democratic Republic of Congo match to be played Wednesday in Atlanta. Mexico\u2019s round of 16 game is scheduled for Sunday. The team is one step away from matching its best World Cup performance \u2014 a run to the quarterfinals it achieved in 1970 and 1986 when Mexico hosted both tournaments.<\/p>\n

Aguirre highlighted the performance of his goalkeeper, Ra\u00fal Rangel<\/a>, who made a key save in the first half, as well as his defense\u2019s aerial play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe showed maturity; I would have liked to have sealed the game with a counterattack,\u201d added Aguirre, who also praised the work of his assistant coach Rafael M\u00e1rquez, a former Barcelona player.<\/p>\n

El Tri is now 4-0 in World Cup matches and has yet to concede a goal, both firsts for the Mexican national team.<\/p>\n

Tuesday night\u2019s showdown with Ecuador was delayed by an hour because of lightning.<\/p>\n

\"Mexico <\/p>\n

Mexico goalkeeper Raul Rangel catches the ball during a World Cup match against Ecuador in Mexico City on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

(Eduardo Verdugo \/ Ap Photo\/eduardo Verdugo)<\/p>\n

The Ecuadorian team complained before the match that their fans had not received the tickets required by FIFA and that Mexican fans made noise all night outside the Ecuadorian team\u2019s hotel \u2014 a common practice in Latin America designed to prevent the opponent from getting a good night\u2019s sleep the night before a decisive match. Finally, Ecuador\u2019s coach, Argentine Sebasti\u00e1n Beccacece, complained about the logistics of the trip to Mexico, claiming it involved long journeys that were an undue burden for his team.<\/p>\n

Frustration flared up throughout the match.<\/p>\n

When Ecuador could not earn shots on target and time was running out during the second half, Piero Hincapi\u00e9 ran toward forward Santi Gim\u00e9nez and covered his mouth while speaking.<\/p>\n

The referee saw the exchange and stopped play, calling for video review. Once he confirmed Hincapi\u00e9\u2019s action, the referee issued a red card and the Ecuador player became the second player this World Cup for violating FIFA\u2019s restriction against players covering their mouths during heated exchanges. Since Ecuador lost, Hincapi\u00e9 will serve his red-card suspension during the team\u2019s next international match.<\/p>\n

FIFA established the new rule to prevent players from trying hide use of offensive language.<\/p>\n

Paraguay\u2019s Miguel Almir\u00f3n was the first player to get a red card for the infraction against Turkey earlier in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Other players have covered their mouths while speaking to opponents during the World Cup, but a red card is only issued if the conversation occurs during a confrontation or heated exchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Mexico once again enjoyed a night of celebration with its fans, this time after defeating an old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[20792,143429,9349,11154,8862,48,52,51,47,50,49,22169,154297,2457,1869,154298,9442,55283,16408,427,5393],"class_list":["post-381910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ecuador","tag-el-tri","tag-exchange","tag-fan","tag-fifa","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-match","tag-mexican-team","tag-mexico","tag-night","tag-piero-hincapie","tag-player","tag-referee","tag-round","tag-team","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}