In the great football temple of the Azteca, in the midst of the chaotic, untrammelled fervour that football unleashes here, battered by the din, electrical storms raging around the stadium, reduced to 10 men for 40 minutes, up at an altitude of 7220ft, in the thin air that makes your heart race and your lungs gasp, England defied it all.
When the final whistle went, they breathed again. All England breathed again. All England, up in the middle of the night in packed pubs in cities and villages across the country, in front rooms and basements, the intrepid few who sat high in the stands here, all breathed again.
And then the England players celebrated. And they deserved to celebrate because this 3-2 victory was an epic, a classic, a game for the ages that will be remembered as another landmark in the storied history of this arena. It was also, by a distance, England’s greatest victory at a World Cup since 1966.
England captain Harry Kane, with one goal, and Jude Bellingham with two, stood mighty and tall once more for England as they have done throughout this World Cup.
A sending off is usually a harbinger of doom for England teams at World Cups but when Jarell Quansah was shown a straight red early in the second half, England refused to yield.
For most who witnessed this, it was the greatest England performance they would have ever seen in the greatest stadium they have ever visited. They will play Norway in the quarter-finals in Miami on Saturday evening. It is tempting to say that if England can win here at the Azteca in these circumstances, they can win anywhere.
England produced their greatest World Cup win since 1966 as they downed Mexico in an epic
Harry Kane scored a decisive penalty kick as England dug in with 10 men to edge it 3-2
Thomas Tuchel’s side had backs to the wall but pulled off a generational win at the Azteca
Thomas Tuchel, Kane, Bellingham and the rest of the squad had arrived here late on Friday night knowing that this country had been a graveyard of England’s ambitions at two World Cups already and that the only precedents for visits here involved controversy and failure.
It was here that their defence of the World Cup they won in 1966 ended when they surrendered a two-goal lead and fell to defeat to West Germany in Leon in 1970. It was here, in the Azteca, where they fell to the genius and the duplicity of Diego Maradona and his Hand of God goal in 1986.
And it was here where many expected them to succumb once more. Mexico had only lost twice here in 89 competitive fixtures since the stadium opened 60 years ago. The arena has become legend, an outlier of passion and fury and tradition at a tournament where many matches are being played in manicured monuments to wealth and sophistication.
There was altitude, there was heat, there was kick-off time chaos, there was an hour’s delay, there were fans letting off a fusillade of fireworks outside their team hotel in the middle of the night and there was an opponent that had not conceded a single goal in the three matches it had already played here and had never lost a World Cup game here. England defeated it all.
And so in the magnificent cathedral of the game, which has been blessed by staging Brazil’s beautiful demolition of Italy in the 1970 World Cup final and Maradona’s greatest triumph when Argentina defeated West Germany in the 1986 final, England exorcised the ghosts of what happened here 40 years ago and created their own special moment in the Azteca.
The hour’s delay to the start because of thunderstorms had worked the crowd into an even greater frenzy than usual. ‘Si, si, si,’ they yelled over and over again in the seconds before kick-off. The expectation was that Mexico would hurl themselves at England in the first 20 minutes.
Tuchel had chosen Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gorden to start wide but all thoughts of team selection were lost in the mayhem of the opening 50 seconds when Declan Rice was shown a yellow card when he tried to clear the ball but connected with the face of Luis Romo instead. It was a bad start.
The crowd was at fever pitch and their team fed off it. They passed the ball around beautifully in the early moments. ‘Ole’, the crowd chanted with every pass, as if they were taunting a maddened bull. Kane lost his cool when he tried to retrieve the ball after a Mexico foul. The madness of the Azteca was getting to everyone.
England were clinging on until 10 minutes before half-time. Then a different kind of bedlam was unleashed and Bellingham unleashed it with two goals in 98 seconds. First, Rice rampaged down the right and played the ball to Saka.
Saka beat his man and crossed to the back post where Bellingham met it with a diving header a few yards out.
Mexico were devastated in the end having more than played their part in this 50-50 contest
The stadium was stunned but worse was to come for Mexico. Straight from the kick-off, England ran at Mexico again. Gordon, who had had an excellent half, played the ball to Kane and Kane pulled it back into the box where Bellingham made absolutely sure he got to it first and forced it over the line.
England were in heaven. It felt briefly as if the game was won. It wasn’t. Two minutes before half-time, England failed to clear a Mexico free kick and Julian Quinones reacted fastest to the loose ball. He rifled it high into the roof of the England net. The Azteca was alive again, even louder and more impassioned than before.
England were besieged now. Jimenez dragged a good chance wide, then forced a fine save out of Pickford with a looping header. Then Cesar Montes found the ball at his feet from a Mexico corner and seemed certain to score until Bellingham denied him with a brilliant saving tackle.
Half-time seemed to have come at the right time for England. Nico O’Reilly hit the post from the edge of the area and England seemed to be in the ascendancy again. This game was far too tumultuous for something so simple.
Eight minutes after the break, Jarell Quansah launched himself into a sliding tackle on Jesus Gallardo. He got the ball but also caught Gallardo high on the shin. Gallardo was left in a heap but referee Alireza Faghani waved play on. The Mexico bench was enraged. There was a scuffle between the substitutes and then the referee was called to review the decision. He showed Quansah a red card.
There was still no time to breathe. Five minutes later, Gordon took the ball around Raul Rangel and Rangel brought him down. It was an obvious penalty. Kane took it and hammered it into the corner of the net. It was his sixth goal of this World Cup.
Then, another twist, with 20 minutes left. Kane tried to clear a loose ball in the penalty area but Erick Gutierrez got there just ahead of him and Kane kicked the back of his leg instead of the ball. The referee, once more, went to the monitor, and awarded a penalty. Jimenez took it and even though Pickford tried to change direction, the ball sped past him.
The crowd smelled blood. They bayed for the equaliser. England clung on. John Stones, Dan Burn and Djed Spence came on. They all played like heroes at the back. Then the fourth official held up a board showing there would be 11 minutes of time added on.
Some doubted England could hold out. But this game was about 15 heroes. Fifteen men who stood up when many expected them to fail. Fifteen men who would not yield to everything the Azteca threw at them. Fifteen men who will travel to Miami this week to play for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.
