Ten Men England Survives Against Mexico, Advances to the Quarterfinals

By Daniel Feuerstein | Mexico City, MX | July 5th, 2026

After an hour’s delay due to lightning strikes around the Estadio Azteca, the big match between Mexico and England finally got underway, and we got a fabulous match for the ages. The superstars of England against a young and plucky Mexico battling each other for the full 90 minutes, and when England were reduced to ten men, they fought hard to withstand the constant attacks from the host country, and they held on all the way after the final eleven minutes of second half stoppage time as the Three Lions advance ot the Quarterfinals by a final score of three goals to two.

Jude Bellingham’s brace puts Mexico behind quickly

Two goals in two minutes saw Jude Bellingham give his side the lead with pinpoint accuracy and confidence as he showed how badly he wanted to score at the famous Estadio Azteca. The first goal came from Declan Rice as he brought the ball up the far side of the pitch and then laid it off to Bukayo Saka. When Saka moved toward the area, he saw Bellingham make his move toward the near post and crossed the ball perfectly to him; then Bellingham lowered his body and delivered a lunging header that beat the keeper and scored in the 36th minute. That was the first goal conceded by Mexico in this World Cup.

Once the restart came, Mexico took the ball and were lackadaisical, allowing England to steal the ball and allowed them to go on an attacking run down the middle of the park. Anthony Gordon stole the ball and went forward; as he was tripped up, he still found a way to pass the ball to Bellingham. A quick run toward the area as Bellingham played a give-and-go with Harry Kane inside the area. Bellingham got it back and swept the ball inside the near post and earned his second goal of the match in the 38th minute, leaving the home crowd stunned with this performance.

Mexico pulls one back

Mexico earned a free kick just towards the far side of the pitch. As England was setting up the wall, Roberto Alvarado was trying to get his teammates to prepare for the big free kick to try and dent the scoreboard. Once Alvarado sent the ball inside the area, there was a block, and the ball was loose, but the rebound was picked up by Julian Quinones as he smashed it into the top shelf to pull one back in the 42nd minute. The Azteca roared to see their side fighting back and getting into halftime only down by a goal.

England down to ten men

Anytime an opponent plays against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca, it’s a big match for the visiting side, and they must keep their nerves in check. Any slight mistake, either allowing a goal, a free kick, or creating a poor challenge to get yourself sent off, is a major mistake, and it will cost your side very dearly. That happened to Jarell Quansah, tracking the ball and making a hard slide tackle that originally looked clean against Jesus Gallardo. VAR came calling and sent the referee to the monitor, and we saw Quansah with a dangerous tackle as his right leg went on top of the ball and continued to go toward Gallardo’s left leg with his studs showing and into the leg. The referee showed the red card, and England were down to ten men in the 54th minute.

Harry Kane gets the spot kick

A big moment for England to get the two-goal lead back saw a challenge from Mexico goalkeeper Raul Rangel. As the ball was looped toward the Mexico side of the pitch, running for the ball was Anthony Gordon, once Kane put his head on it and got the space for the attacking run. Rangel came well off his line to stop Gordon and took him down on the diving challenge. The referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot for a penalty. Kane was given the ball from Bellingham and took the penalty and blasted it inside the far post to get one goal behind Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi at seven in the 60th minute.

VAR says penalty to Mexico

Mexico continued to fight and were given a chance of their own from the spot when VAR spotted a foul inside the area when Kane kicked a Mexican attacker in the back of his left leg while both men were going for the ball at the same time. Kane, however, was a second late and got his man instead of the ball. The referee went to the monitor to view it and said penalty for Mexico. Raúl Jiménez took the spot kick and, with confidence, smashed it through Jordan Pickford and cut the deficit back down to one again in the 69th minute.

Pickford and England played strong and held on

With 21 minutes remaining in the second half, plus 11 minutes of stoppage time, England held their lead and kept Mexico from scoring a big tying goal to force extra time. If it wasn’t a blocked shot, it was Pickford making strong saves and was in position to make the easy grabs from balls that didn’t look dangerous and didn’t want to concede that tying goal. Once the final whistle blew, England broke Mexico’s 13-year winning streak at the Estadio Azteca, which began after a loss to Honduras in a World Cup Qualifier on September 10th, 2013. England will now play Norway in the Quarterfinals.

Jordan Henderson injured after the match

England’s Jordan Henderson injured his wrist after the match ended. After applauding the England fans in a section at the Azteca, Henderson was seen trying to jump the electronic ad signs, and instead of landing on his feet, he fell on top of his wrist and was in pain. Henderson went to the hospital with a wrist injury, and we will see if he can make the Quarterfinals in a few days.

England survives their trip to the Estadio Azteca and against Mexico to advance to the Quarterfinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup

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