Mexico
EnglandTwo moments of individual genius made England; one moment of disciplinary madness almost unmade them. Bellingham's goals in the 36th and 38th minutes shifted the entire psychological weight of the match before half-time, and when Quansah's studs-up challenge on Gallardo earned a straight red card on 54 minutes, the script appeared to flip entirely. Kane's penalty response at 60 minutes was the decisive sucker punch — Mexico now needed two rather than one — and Jiménez's spot-kick on 69 minutes gave the Azteca hope that Pickford ultimately refused to grant. England survived eleven minutes of added time at altitude to record what ESPN described as their finest win on foreign soil in the programme's history.
Mexico
Mexico fought with characteristic intensity at the Azteca but were undone by Bellingham's two goals arriving in ninety seconds — a lightning passage that erased four consecutive clean sheets and left the home side permanently chasing. Jiménez converted his penalty and Quiñones's 43rd-minute volley showed the individual quality Aguirre has built around, but England's two-goal buffer before half-time meant that Mexico — even with the crowd, the altitude, and a man advantage from the hour mark — never truly controlled the match they had dreamed of dominating.
England
England were brilliant when it mattered most and absolutely resolute when it mattered even more. Bellingham's 36th and 38th-minute goals — a diving header from Saka's delivery and a composed finish after Kane's lay-off, arriving ninety seconds apart — were the decisive blow before half-time. When Quansah's straight red card reduced Tuchel's side to ten men on 54 minutes, Kane's immediately subsequent penalty made it 3-1, and Pickford denied everything Mexico created across a nerve-shredding final twenty minutes, facing twenty shots in total at 2,240 metres.