They were held up by an electric storm but, after the skies had cleared, Mexico kept the lightning bolts coming. This was a climactic night that utterly engulfed the senses and its ramifications will be far reaching.
El Tri have broken a hex that had nagged and gnawed at the nation’s football psyche across four decades, winning a World Cup knockout game for the first time since 1986, and the head turner will be the manner in which it happened. Javier Aguirre’s players cut Ecuador apart in a stunning first-half performance and, on this evidence, woe betide whoever runs into them next.
