Mexico’s Raul Jimenez (9) celebrates with teammates after scoring their second goal through the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Mexico and Ecuador in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
MEXICO CITY — Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored goals in a nine-minute span in the primary half and Mexico defeated Ecuador 2-0 on Tuesday night to interrupt a 40-year drought and not using a win within the knockout stage and progress to the World Cup round of 16.
Quiñones opened the scoring within the twenty second minute while Jiménez added a strike within the thirty first minute for the Mexicans, who had not won a knockout-stage match since defeating Bulgaria within the round of 16 once they hosted the tournament in 1986.
Mexico subsequently lost seven consecutive times at that very same stage from 1994 to 2018.
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In Qatar 2022, they were eliminated within the group stage for the primary time since Argentina in 1978.
It was Quiñones third goal of the tournament and he’s now El Tri’s second-best scorer in World Cup history behind Luis “Matador” Hernández and Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, who scored 4 each.
Jiménez scored his second goal of the tournament and has 47 with the national team to interrupt a tie with Jared Borgetti. He’s five away from tying “Chicharito” Hernández because the all-time leading scorer for Mexico.
Mexico will play one other home match Sunday against the winner of Wednesday’s match between England and Congo.
Playing at the long-lasting Azteca Stadium, the Mexican squad boasts an undefeated record across 10 World Cup matches. Mexico has just two official losses on the venue — the last being a World Cup qualifying defeat to Honduras on Sept. 6, 2013.
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With the win, Mexico prolonged its unbeaten run to 12 games, dating back to a friendly loss against Paraguay in November.
Mexico also became the primary CONCACAF side to eliminate a CONMEBOL side in a World Cup knockout match. Teams from South America won the previous five meetings.
Ecuador was attempting to advance to the round of 16 for the second time of their history and the primary since Germany 2006.
The match began one hour after the unique scheduled time because of a thunderstorm.
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It was the second match of the tournament affected by weather. A storm through the France-Iraq match at Philadelphia on June 22 caused a 2-hour, 11-minute suspension at the tip of the primary half.