After one of the great rearguard performances in English football history, Thomas Tuchel’s team broke Mexican hearts at the Estadio Azteca.
Talk of 1986 and all that is no more. With England beating Mexico in an epic battle with 10 men, they will face Norway on Saturday in the World Cup quarter-finals.
Here, Daily Mail Sport looks at the big talking points behind England’s astonishing triumph.
Final is in reach
This was a night that could propel England towards their first World Cup final since 1966. Tuchel and his players should certainly believe it can.
We have talked before about ‘lift-off’ moments within a tournament and this should be England’s. This is what Tuchel’s team needed, to prevail in an epic tussle against the odds. To win like this should lead England’s players to believe they can do absolutely anything. That is how the psychology of elite sport works.
This was a victory for the ages from Tuchel’s team. The defensive effort in the last 25 minutes was awe-inspiring. For all their possession once they had the extra man, Mexico ended the game with just five shots on target – exactly the same number as England. That said everything about how hard England had worked and how organised and resolute they had been.
We have talked before about ‘lift-off’ moments within a tournament and this should be England’s
This was a victory for the ages from Thomas Tuchel’s team. The defensive effort in the last 25 minutes was awe-inspiring
Tuchel got his tactics right at the Azteca – from his early low block to his late back-five – and nothing they face should scare them in the slightest from this point on.
With Brazil out of the way, Norway and Erling Haaland will not be easy in Miami. The Scandinavians are as organised and resolute as any team in this tournament with some star quality on top. They are, in some ways, the team that England wish to be.
But England will approach that with confidence – Norway are ranked 19th in the world – and should not lose sleep about the prospect of facing the likes of Argentina, Switzerland, Egypt or Colombia in a semi-final.
Yes, we are getting ahead of ourselves. But there are no perfect teams in England’s side of the draw. There is no France and no Spain. This was heroic and fabulous by Tuchel’s players. They will wake up today feeling that a golden opportunity now stands before them.
Depth, at last!
We have said for so long now that squads win World Cups in the modern age of a bloated 48-team competition and finally England’s came into its own here.
England had no right to see this game out. They were already on the wrong side of the possession stats at the end of a first half that somehow saw them in the lead. But once Jarell Quansah was sent off it seemed there was no way England could see the game out. Not in this atmosphere and not at this altitude.
There were still 36 minutes to play – plus what turned out to be 11 minutes added on – when Quansah walked yet England only conceded a penalty goal from that point on. Much of that was down to effort and desire and some increasingly positive goalkeeping from Jordan Pickford.
But it was largely down to the way Tuchel was able to use his substitutes and tweak his formation. As England went to a back five, John Stones and Dan Burn came on. Stones lost his place after one game here and Burn was playing his first minutes of the tournament. Both could have been excused for feeling a bit miffed.
As England went to a back five, John Stones and Dan Burn came on. Stones lost his place after one game here and Burn was playing his first minutes of the tournament
But Tuchel places great faith in the personality and character of this squad and here it came to the fore. Burn in particular was fabulous, heading crosses away and throwing his body in front of shots. Stones, meanwhile, produced one of the clearances of all time deep in stoppage time, poking a loose ball past the post when calamity threatened.
This was the England that Tuchel has his name on. At last.
Jude the Lion again
How do we stop writing and talking about the star of England’s tournament?
This was once again the Bellingham we have all been waiting to see and there may be some signs at last that he is starting to drag others with him. With so much talk before the game of the impact of the altitude, this was about attitude to a significant extent. If you are tired, you will feel tired, as the saying goes.
It was obvious from the opening stages of the game how much effort was being expended by some of Tuchel’s players as they tried to control spells of Mexican possession. Bellingham didn’t hugely seem to care, however.
Early on – after a run to close a Mexican player down – he smiled and puffed his cheeks out almost in mock exasperation. But the thing about the truly great players is that they know the right time to coast and the right time to put their foot on the accelerator. Lionel Messi is probably the best there has ever been at it.
It’s something that comes with experience and Bellingham is mature beyond his years in this regard. Here, for example, the 23-year-old saw opportunity for the first goal.
As Bukayo Saka beat his man on the right side, Bellingham read the play and a burst of speed took him past two idling Mexican defenders to enable him to stoop to head in. It looked easy. It wasn’t. It comes from intelligence and desire. Bellingham has both. The Norwegians will have to find a way to stop him and it will not be easy.
This was once again the Jude Bellingham we have all been waiting to see and there may be some signs at last that he is starting to drag others with him
Bellingham struck twice in the space of 99 seconds to give England the lead in the first half
Now the bad news…
England have had an aerial problem at both ends of the field from the moment the World Cup began and it hasn’t gone away.
Yes, Tuchel’s back five was magnificent as it dug into the trench it built in its own penalty area for the final 30 minutes. But that was an emergency that brought the best from a committed group of players.
What Tuchel hasn’t worked out yet is to connect his back four and his goalkeeper in regulation play. Next up, as we have said, is Erling Haaland. After scoring twice to take down Brazil in New Jersey, the Manchester City forward will be watching the way England’s central defenders are going and licking his lips.
One of Haaland’s goals against Brazil saw him monster Arsenal central defender Gabriel in the air and currently Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa will not worry him at all.
Erling Haaland won’t be worried by England centre back pair Ezri Konsa (centre) and Marc Guehi (right)
Almost all of the Mexico chances – and indeed their goal – that arrived during their purple patch towards the end of the first half came from deliveries through the air. Pickford made his best save of the tournament early in the game to deny Raul Jimenez and that was a huge moment. A goal then – with Mexico in the ascendency – would have put England in a fix.
Pickford was excellent at the death, too. But the connection between the Everton goalkeeper and his two central defenders isn’t there while things aren’t a whole lot better at the other end, either.
The set-pieces Tuchel has talked about for so long in the attacking third have been largely disappointing here in America and at one point the England manager was off his seat asking how two attacking throw-ins had somehow been delivered straight out of play.
England now have three straight training days back at base in Kansas and it should hopefully prove invaluable. The lack of surety across an England defence that didn’t concede a goal in qualifying is currently the one great obstacle standing between this team and a shot at ultimate glory.
Beware a significant change
Earlier in this World Cup, it was clear that VAR officials had been told to stay out of the picture unless absolutely necessary. But something has changed and England need to get their heads round it quickly.
There is a suspicion out here in America that referees and VAR officials have been told after the group stages to lower what they call the bar for intervention
There is a suspicion out here in America that referees and VAR officials have been told after the group stages to lower what they call the bar for intervention. We have seen it in other games in the knockout rounds and now we have seen it here. The decisions made during this game were all correct but England’s shock was that none of this would have happened in the first two weeks of the tournament.
It was easy to feel sorry for Quansah as there was no malice in his challenge early in the second half. It was one of those that, when it is presented to a referee as a still image on a screen, looks horrific. That said, he was over the ball and into his opponent’s shin. It was a red card.
As for the two penalties, the referee spotted one and missed the other. But before England and captain Harry Kane complain too much, think back to the one that he was awarded on VAR advice in the Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands in Dortmund. It wasn’t hugely dissimilar.
The point is that this is how it will be at World Cup 2026 from now on. It’s gone a bit Premier League and while that is a shame, it’s up to England to make sure they have got the message and do what they can to be on the right of the big calls when they inevitably come. It could be the difference between coming home as heroes or also-rans yet again.
