Bellingham brace silences Azteca, Kane breaks Mexican hearts

It seems almost impossible to try and write about this game. It seems foolish to try and capture the feelings and emotions felt by Mexican and English fans over the course of 90 minutes today at the Azteca. It was a game that captured that special feeling that only the World Cup can provide, and when the final whistle blew it was the English that stood tall, while the Azteca was silenced for the first time in FIFA World Cup history.

An outstanding individual performance from Jude Bellingham, that resulted in a brace, and Harry Kane’s penalty gave England the edge over a Mexican team that gave this game their blood, sweat, and tears, just to come agonizingly close to victory. Despite an amazing effort from Mexico, England managed to eke out a 3-2 victory at the Azteca, making history in the process and booking their tickets to the quarter-finals. 

It was a game that carried a lot of weight before the actual kickoff. Mexico, plagued by the curse of the Round of 16, having not made it to the quarter-finals since 1986 when they last hosted the tournament, felt that this was their best shot to break the cycle. The only obstacle in their path? A formidable Three Lions team that was also looking to avenge their own ghosts of the Azteca. The last time that England played at the Azteca was the infamous 1986 quarter-finals, where Maradona scored two goals that would forever scar the English. The first of those two goals was the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal, while the second was dubbed the “Goal of the Century”. English fans still talk about that loss, decades after the tournament ended, and today, they had a chance to exorcise those ghosts. 

It was never going to be easy for either team, and the initial 30 minutes of the game saw both teams trying to be the first to draw blood. Ultimately, it was England who succeeded, and when they saw blood, they were smart enough to push and get a second in quick succession. It was excellent build-up from England for their opener that began all the way in their open box with Jordan Pickford making a save. He passes it to Declan Rice, who runs almost the length of the pitch before giving it to Bukayo Saka on the right wing. From there, Saka moved the ball into the box and fired a cross that seemed to be aimed at Harry Kane. However, the ball flew just over Kane’s head and Mexican defenders might have breathed a sigh of relief if not for Jude Bellingham, who came crashing into the box and threw his body to head the ball into the back of the net. England 1-0, and the Azteca trembled slightly but nobody could have imagined how fast the next goal would come. 

Just after restarting the game, Mexican teenage sensation Gilberto Mora received the ball near the half-line when a combined press from Anthony Gordon and Elliot Anderson forced a turnover with the ball again reaching Jude Bellingham outside the box. From there it was a simple matter of passing the ball out to Kane and receiving the return ball in the box, and Bellingham made it 2-0.

In a matter of minutes, the Azteca had gone silent and it was all because of one man; Jude Bellingham. I’ve said it before, and I’ll reiterate it here, Jude Bellingham is a man made for big moments, and there was no bigger moment than at the Cathedral of Football during a knockout game. He delivered not one, but two goals that gave England a safety net to play within for the remainder of the game. Just like in the Euros, when England needed a goal, he was there and he was the difference maker in a tight game that left no space for errors. 

However, Mexico wouldn’t go down that easy and just before half-time, Julian Quinones pulled one back for El Tri. A Mexican freekick from the left side of the box saw Ezri Konsa making a misjudged clearance a into the path of Quinones, who knew that this wasn’t an opportunity to waste and fired a rocket above Pickford and into the net. 2-1, and the game was on. 

Returning from half-time, the Three Lions were dealt another blow as right-back Jarell Quansah was shown a straight red card for his tackle on Jesus Gallardo in the 54th minute. It was the correct decision from the referee, as Quansah was rash in his decision-making and rushed Gallardo with his cleats up. Down to ten men, and with only a single goal lead, England were now the ones who were starting to sweat. The Azteca, that had gone so quiet early on, started rumbling again and a Mexican comeback seemed imminent. 

But it just wasn’t the Mexican’s day tonight, and 3 minutes after Quansah’s booking, a rash challenge by goalkeeper Raul Rangel on Anthony Gordon saw England awarded a penalty. Even if Jude Bellingham was on course for a hat-trick, there were no doubts that Harry Kane wouldn’t take the penalty. With so much discourse during this World Cup about the poor quality of penalties and the little shuffle step that many players take before the kick, Kane made no mistakes and calmly ran up to strike the ball cleanly into the goal and give England a 2 goal cushion again. 

On a game day like this, however, there was never going to be just one penalty and 9 minutes later it was Mexico who were awarded a kick and it was Kane who gave it away. It was a controversial decision as Kane’s challenge on Brian Gutierrez was quite tame as they both raised their legs to try and control an errant ball. But football is a game of fine margins, and Kane was just a touch too late and ended up hitting Gutierrez’s leg, without getting close to the ball. It was the captain, Raul Jimenez, who stepped up to take the penalty, and just like Kane at the other end, there were no mistakes, and the English lead was once again cut down to a single goal. 

The last 20 minutes saw Mexico go all out on attack, with cross after cross being put into the box, and shot after shot missing the posts. El Tri tried their hardest but the English moved into a defensive formation that completely shut out any opportunity for the co-hosts to score. Despite getting 11 minutes of extra time, the Mexican offence were unable to find even the smallest chink in the English defence and when the final whistle blew, it was those in green that fell to their knees while the Three Lions roared victorious.

In what was probably the most intense and entertaining match of this World Cup so far, the English just showed that they wanted it more. They were clinical with their chances, while Mexico squandered many opportunities and that’s just something you can’t do at the biggest stage in world football. 

It would be yet another year of Mexico exiting the World Cup at the round of 16 and this time it was even more heartbreaking as they lost at their formerly impregnable fortress; the Azteca. While the dreams of repeating their ’86 run were squashed for the Mexicans, the English, now having vanquished their own demons of ’86, moved forward to the quarter finals. If, and it’s a big if, they manage to move past the quarters, they could even set up a potential rematch with the Argentinians in the semi-finals, which might provide England with an opportunity to truly gain revenge and finish their World Cup agony with a fitting storyline. But that’s getting too far ahead of the schedule and for now, Kane and company will be looking ahead to their quarter-finals match against Norway on July 11 in Miami.