Sports Desk

Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored first-half goals as Mexico defeated Ecuador 2-0 on Tuesday night to end a 40-year wait for a World Cup knockout-stage victory and book a place in the round of 16.

Quiñones gave Mexico the lead in the 22nd minute before Jiménez doubled the advantage nine minutes later.

It was Mexico's first win in the knockout stage since beating Bulgaria in the round of 16 at the 1986 World Cup, which the country hosted.

Since then, El Tri had lost seven consecutive round-of-16 matches between 1994 and 2018. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Mexico failed to advance beyond the group stage for the first time since the 1978 tournament in Argentina.

Quiñones scored his third goal of the tournament and moved into second place on Mexico's all-time World Cup scoring list, behind Luis "Matador" Hernández and Javier "Chicharito" Hernández, who each scored four goals.

Jiménez netted his second goal of the tournament and took his international tally to 47, moving past Jared Borgetti. He now needs five more goals to equal Chicharito Hernández as Mexico's all-time leading scorer.

Mexico will play another home match on Sunday against the winner of Wednesday's round-of-32 clash between England and Congo.

Playing at the iconic Azteca Stadium, Mexico extended its unbeaten World Cup record at the venue to 10 matches. The national team has suffered only two official defeats at the stadium, the most recent coming in a World Cup qualifier against Honduras on Sept. 6, 2013.

The victory also stretched Mexico's unbeaten run to 12 matches, dating back to a friendly defeat against Paraguay in November.

Mexico also became the first CONCACAF team to eliminate a CONMEBOL nation in a World Cup knockout-stage match after South American teams had won the previous five meetings.

Ecuador had been aiming to reach the World Cup round of 16 for only the second time in its history and the first since the 2006 tournament in Germany.

Kickoff was delayed by one hour because of a thunderstorm.

It was the second World Cup match affected by severe weather. Earlier in the tournament, the France-Iraq match in Philadelphia on June 22 was suspended for two hours and 11 minutes at the end of the first half due to a storm.