{"id":385256,"date":"2026-07-03T19:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T19:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385256\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T19:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T19:02:07","slug":"world-cup-mexico-breaks-curse-but-will-momentum-carry-team-past-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385256\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup: Mexico breaks curse, but will momentum carry team past England?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"One<\/a>Mexico\u2019s Raul Jimenez (9) celebrates with teammates after scoring their second goal during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Mexico and Ecuador in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo\/AP)<\/p>\n

Times of San Diego will offer match previews of U.S. and Mexico games during the World Cup.\u00a0For more, see our\u00a02026 World Cup Guide<\/a>\u00a0to local watch parties.<\/p>\n

Match:\u00a0Mexico vs. England<\/a><\/p>\n

When: 5 p.m., Sunday<\/p>\n

How to watch: Fox5 San Diego, Telemundo and FOX One.<\/p>\n

After breaking its 40-year knockout round curse with a thrilling 2-0 victory over Ecuador, El Tri looks to continue its World Cup run on Sunday at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City versus perennial powerhouse England.<\/p>\n

England is a slight favorite, but that is the exact position El Tri likes to be in \u2013 playing the role of underdog, especially in front of the home fans. There already have been several upsets in the World Cup, including the biggest when Paraguay knocked out Germany on penalty kicks. Could Mexico pull off another? This has the makings of an instant classic.<\/p>\n

Mexico<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s victory turned it into just the third team in World Cup history to win the first four matches of the tournament by shutout, joining Brazil (1986) and Italy (1990), though neither of those teams won their respective World Cups. Of the two, Italy finished highest, in third.<\/p>\n

Strengths: Mexico\u2019s defensive performance has been one for the ages, including the excellent showing between the posts by goalkeeper Ra\u00fal \u201cTala\u201d Rangel. The attack has been very efficient with forwards Juli\u00e1n Qui\u00f1ones and Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez, who have developed a strong chemistry. Midfielder Gilberto Mora has been a bright spot, becoming the second-youngest player ever to start a World Cup knockout stage match at 17 years and 259 days old. Who\u2019s first? Brazilian legend Pel\u00e9 who was 20 days younger than Mora in the 1958 World Cup. <\/p>\n

Keep an eye on: England\u2019s conditioning. The altitude at Estadio Azteca continues to benefit Mexico, led by head coach Javier Aguirre, as El Tri breaks down opponents with mounting pressure. Mexico also will look to come out strong, just like it did against Ecuador, by putting England on the backfoot and testing goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. <\/p>\n

England<\/p>\n

Strengths: England is known as a team with great technical ability, but also one with a talented midfield which can take advantage of any turnover or mistake and turn it into a clear scoring opportunity. The Three Lions already have been put to the test, not just during the first knockout game, a 2-1 win over DR Congo, but also during group stage play in a hard-fought draw against Ghana.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on: Mexico\u2019s backline will have its hands full with the likes of forward Harry Kane, who has already scored five goals during the World Cup, including two late ones in the second half against DR Congo. That brace also lifted his career total to 13 World Cup goals, allowing Kane to surpass Pel\u00e9\u2019s tally of 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mexico\u2019s Raul Jimenez (9) celebrates with teammates after scoring their second goal during the World Cup round of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[15392,2457,74,76,75,5393],"class_list":["post-385256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-mexico","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385256","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=385256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}