At altitude, England dug so deep. They came out of an absolute dog fight to seize a quarter-final place against Erling Haaland’s Norway.
And if this last-16 didn’t exactly reach the peaks of quality that the Azteca is so cherished for in past generations – Jude Bellingham and Jordan Pickford aside – it was at least an epic worthy of the surroundings.
A flailing, if spirited Mexico were dispatched 3-2, but it wasn’t only the ghosts of 1986 that swirled around this iconic venue.
It was also 1998 and 2006, after Jarrel Quansah had been sent off for a VAR review. That was one of many, to go with multiple moments of doubt.
England, for their part, showed an admirable belief and character. They instead ensured 2026 is different, for now, and has arguably given the country its most dramatic ever World Cup 2026 win. It certainly tested emotions.
Sometimes that is all these World Cup matches come down to, especially with the way they drive and drag teams to emotional limits.
We saw it all here, culminating in Mexican tears.
They’d put everything in but it wasn’t enough.
Thomas Tuchel’s switch to a hugely defensive – and risky – 5-3-1, once Quansah was sent off, actually worked much better than expected, as the anticipated Mexican siege never really arrived.
Pickford, after two sensational saves in the first half that weren’t far behind Gordon Banks’s in the same country, met everything. Dan Burn meanwhile quelled the threat of Raul Jimenez.
For all the rightful lauding of England’s character and resolve, there were again concerns and flaws, that you can’t help but feel would be punished against superior sides.
Most of all, England saw another game become a battle.
They struggle to assert any kind of control, which also feels slightly contradictory, when Elliot Anderson had played so well.
That is probably influenced by the fragility at the back. It is remarkable how quickly gaps appear.
The Quansah red card can even be linked to these issues at right-back.
England were again exposed.
But then… how many teams at this World Cup are actually good enough to not get punished themselves.
Just look at arguably the strongest on this side – and it is now very arguable – in Argentina. Look at the battle they had against Cape Verde.
Perhaps that’s just the nature of this World Cup, the gaps lessened, every game a fight.
And if so many other sides are flawed, can they be punished in the same way if Harry Kane and Bellingham are on this kind of form?
It’s almost like they’re trading influential games now. Kane gets two then Bellingham gets two, with the captain adding a brilliant penalty that did end up being decisive.
It was Bellingham that shaped the entire game, though, right up to how his two goals set everything that followed.
One irony to that is England initially looked like they’d got their approach spot on.
Clearly conscious of the excessive circumstances of this game, Tuchel had England play in a constrained approach where they invited pressure and then patiently hit Mexico on the counter.
With one drive, it was like Bellingham changed the entire tone of the match.
He was then there to finish from another counter moments later, plundering the first in brilliant fashion.
That should have been the pattern of the game. Having scored one on the counter, England then scored another on the counter press.
Bellingham was there again.
That should have been that, even as the Mexican fans sang “yes we can”.
It seemed little more than hope, an attempt to manifest some deep will that wasn’t based on any substance.
And then England just frittered away themselves.
If the foul that led to Julian Quinones’s brilliantly taken goal did not look a foul, it came from a spell where England were giving away a series of free-kicks.
That seemed so needless… especially since it was 2-0.
Again it came back to this issue of control.
The game was a dogfight when England should have been purring.
They badly needed the break.
That only sparked a series of big decisions and VAR reviews.
First there was Quansah, then the crucial reprieve of Raul Rangel’s foul on Anthony Gordon for Kane to power home – then Kane’s own foul for Jimenez’s penalty.
Amid all of that, though, there was only Mexican crossing.
In one crucial moment just before the end of the 90, they had a chance to work an opening but instead played it back to swing it in again.
England gradually learned to deal with this, despite the emotion – and 11 minutes’ injury time – inevitably bringing one big scare.
And that is maybe the main lesson of this game: England still have a lot of issues, but they have qualities and spirit and an ability to respond that can take them through to the final.
They now just have a big striker to face.
Everyone will be doing well to ensure the emotional peaks of this match are reached.
At the end of the game, England sank to the ground in relief.
That was certainly down to more than altitude. They’d gone very, very deep – and it might yet mean going deep into this World Cup.
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