40 years of hurt over: Mexico beat Ecuador to win their first knockout tie since 1986

Mexico ended a 40-year wait, beating Ecuador 2-0 at the Azteca for their first World Cup knockout win since 1986. Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored, 17-year-old Gilberto Mora made history as Mexico's youngest World Cup starter, and Piero Hincapié was sent off. A fourth straight clean sheet takes the hosts into the last 16.

Forty years of hurt ended in a roar at the Azteca. Mexico beat Ecuador 2-0 to record their first World Cup knockout victory since 1986, sending more than eighty thousand fans in Mexico City into raptures and El Tri into the Round of 16. After a wait that had become a national burden, the host nation delivered when it mattered most.

Despite an hour-long kickoff delay for lightning storms, Mexico came out flying. On twenty-two minutes Julián Quiñones cut inside the box and powered a brilliant strike into the top corner, and nine minutes later Raúl Jiménez made it two, exchanging a slick give-and-go with Quiñones before drilling low past the goalkeeper. Inside half an hour, the Azteca was bouncing.

At the heart of it, remarkably, was a schoolboy. Gilberto Mora, just seventeen, became the youngest player ever to start a World Cup match for Mexico, and one of the youngest in the tournament's history, with only Pelé having started a World Cup match at a younger age. He ran the game with a poise that belied his years. A star has been born.

Ecuador, so composed in the group, fell apart. They enjoyed the majority of possession but created almost nothing, and their night was summed up in stoppage time when Piero Hincapié was sent off for covering his mouth during a heated argument, a breach of a strict tournament directive. From bad to worse for La Tri of the south.

The records tumbled for Mexico. This was a fourth straight clean sheet, making them the first team since Italy in 1990 to win their opening four games of a World Cup without conceding a single goal. And it was the first time a CONCACAF side has ever eliminated a South American team in a World Cup knockout match, a milestone for the region and for a proud footballing nation reborn.

Mexico now wait in Mexico City for their Round of 16 opponent, the winner of England versus DR Congo. Javier Aguirre's side, having topped their group without conceding, look a very different proposition from the Mexico teams that so often flattered to deceive.

For Kenya, there is a rooting interest brewing: should DR Congo come through, our East African neighbours would face this red-hot Mexico in the last 16. For now, El Tri are the story, a host nation surging and an Ecuador side, so admired in the group, sent home. Mexico wamevunja laana ya miaka arobaini, sasa wako moto: Mexico have broken a forty-year curse, and now they are on fire. As the knockouts thunder on, the hosts mean business. Our CONCACAF verdict had backed the region's belief, while our South America verdict will rue Ecuador's early departure.