š„ Mexico beat Ecuador, into the last 16! Record, fans go wild: party on š¤©
· Yahoo Sports
Mexico keeps dreaming. The host nation beat Ecuador 2-0 to book a place in the round of 16. After finishing the group stage with three wins from three without conceding, Javier Aguirreās side also overcame Ecuador thanks to goals from Quinones (22') and Jimenez (31'), further fueling the excitement of a packed and roaring Azteca.
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The match, which kicked off more than an hour late due to a storm that hit Mexico City, stayed balanced only in the opening minutes. The only real scare for the hosts came from a Yeboah shot, tipped onto the post by Rangel. Once the danger passed, Mexico took full control of the game.
The breakthrough came by exploiting Ecuadorās very high defensive line. Quinones sprinted from inside his own half, beat the offside trap and scored his third goal of the tournament. Riding the wave of the crowdās energy, Mexico kept pushing and found a second as well: after a poor clearance from Ordonez, Raul Jimenez combined with Quinones and fired into the top corner for the final 2-0.
Ecuador tried to respond under the lead of Moises Caicedo, but only Yeboah managed once again to trouble Rangel. Mexico, meanwhile, managed their two-goal lead with order and defensive solidity, keeping another clean sheet and seeing the match out without any particular trouble.
In the round of 16, the hosts could face England, provided the English get past Congo. Driven by the enthusiasm of their home crowd, in excellent form and with a defense still unbeaten in the tournament, Mexico head into the knockout stage full of confidence.
Immediately after the final whistle, the streets of Mexico City were literally flooded by a sea of fans celebrating the home side for advancing to the next round.Ā
š¤© Mexico, the clean-sheet kings
Since the start of their World Cup campaign, Mexico have given away virtually nothing. They have not conceded a goal in their first four matches at the Azteca and, in return, have scored as many as eight. Record numbers: no national team had started a World Cup with four straight clean sheets since Italy in 1990.
š„ HincapiĆ© sent off under the Prestianni rule
In the closing minutes of the match came the second red card of this World Cup for speaking with a hand covering the mouth. With the introduction of the new rule, also known as the āPrestianni rule,ā if a player speaks to another while covering his mouth with his hand, he is punished with a straight red card.
HincapiĆ©ās case, when he covered his mouth during an argument with Gimenez, is not the first at this World Cup. It had already happened to Paraguayās Almiron during a clash with Muldur in the match against Turkey.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in š®š¹ here.