BBC News, Arabic Go to content Main Watch Listen Main Sections News Economy Health and Science Culture and Arts World Cup 2026 Investigations News Economy Health and Science Culture and Arts World Cup 2026 Investigations World Cup: Mbappe and Haaland steal the spotlight as Mexico easily defeats Ecuador, as seen in the image, AFP via Getty Images
The Mexican national team, one of the hosts of the 2026 World Cup, easily secured its fourth consecutive victory against Ecuador, winning 2-0, and reached the round of 16 at the famous Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
Mexican player Julian Quinones scored both goals of the match (in the 22nd minute) and veteran Raul Jimenez (31).
Mexico will face either the Democratic Republic of the Congo or England at the same stadium on Sunday competing for a quarter-final spot.
The start of the match was delayed by an hour due to a thunderstorm, and players did not take to the field for warm-up due to heavy rain in Mexico City.
Both teams took different paths to reach the round of 32. In Group A, the Mexican team achieved three victories without conceding any goals against South Africa (2-0), South Korea (1-0), and Czechia (3-0).
In contrast, Ecuador's journey was not easy; following a defeat to Ivory Coast (0-1) and a draw with Curacao (0-0), the team, which was on the brink of elimination, turned the tables by beating Germany (2-1), qualifying as one of the best third-placed teams.
Moments before the end of the match, the referee showed a red card to Piero Hincapie for placing his hand on his mouth while speaking to a Mexican player, which is now a stipulation of the new rule (90+5).
Ecuador's journey in the knockout phase of the World Cup ended for the second time, after losing in the round of 16 to England 0-1 on June 25, 2006, in Stuttgart.
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Meanwhile, France, led by a terrifying attacking trio, passed the round of 32 of the World Cup, with an easy victory over Sweden 3-0 in New Jersey, setting up a match against Paraguay, who beat Germany, in the round of 16 on Saturday in Philadelphia.
Star Kylian Mbappe scored two goals (in the 45th and 74th minutes), raising his tally to six goals in the current edition, equal with Argentine Lionel Messi, and 18 in total across his appearances, one goal ahead of Messi; while Bradley Parkola added a third goal (53).
Mbappe also boosted his international tally to 62 goals in 102 matches.
Mbappe, the man of the match, said, "Our start was a bit cautious, I think we could have entered the match better, but then we got into the rhythm. We had opportunities that we could have scored early, but as you know, that's part of football. We succeeded in scoring and dominated the match."
His coach Didier Deschamps explained, "I won't say our match was easy, but we had a comfortable margin, even if we could have been more effective in the first half. So, we must enjoy the moment. We know that another match awaits us in four days, but we're here for that, and the players are here for that."
The attacking trio of Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, and Michael Olise continued their brilliance with France, seeking a third consecutive qualification to the final, after the title in 2018 and the loss in 2022 to Argentina on penalties.
France became the first team in World Cup history to score three or more goals in five consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Erling Haaland scored a goal four minutes before the end to lead Norway to a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast and qualify for the match against Brazil on Sunday in New York in the round of 16 of the World Cup, achieving their first win in the knockout stages in their history of participation in the tournament.
Haaland sealed Norway’s win with his fifth goal in the tournament, after his teammate Antonio Nusa opened the scoring in the 39th minute and Amad Diallo equalized for Ivory Coast in the second half.
Haaland, who was rested in Norway's last group match, which ended in a 4-1 loss against…