Julian Quinones scored his second goal of the World Cup and Mexico defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 in Mexico City on Wednesday night to eliminate the Europeans from the tournament.
Mateo Chavez and Alvaro Fidalgo added their first international goals for Mexico (3-0-0, 9 points), who had already sealed the top spot in Group A but nonetheless turned on the style in the second half after a forgettable first 45 minutes.
Legendary Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa came on as a 78th-minute substitute at the Estadio Azteca to appear in his fourth World Cup at age 40.
The Czechs (0-2-1, 1 point) realistically needed a victory to have a strong chance of advancing to the last 32, but they offered little going forward.
They recorded only one shot on target in the final match of their first World Cup appearance since 2006, and their exit was sealed when South Africa defeated South Korea 1-0 in the other Group A match in Guadalupe, Mexico.
Mexico manager Javier Aguirre made five changes to the side that defeated South Korea, but a reported start for Ochoa — Mexico’s third-most capped player at any position — didn’t materialize.
Mexico had the only effort on target in a poor first half before the mood changed drastically 10 minutes into the second with El Tri’s opening goal.
Luis Romo did the heavy lifting, controlling a long ball out of the back with his body at midfield, weathering pressure from three Czech defenders and then playing a ball for Chavez as he surged up the right.
Chavez ran onto it, opened his hips, and curled a left-footed finish around charging goalkeeper Matej Kovar.
Quinones doubled the lead six minutes later when he finished a rebound after Gilberto Mora’s throughball for Jorge Sanchez led to a goalmouth scramble.
That gave Mexico enough margin for error that Aguirre felt comfortable bringing on Ochoa for his 154th cap to an enormous ovation at the venue Ochoa has called home for most of his club career with Club America.
But the hosts weren’t done, with Fidalgo adding more fuel to the party in second-half stoppage time on another goal that developed from a rebound.
–Field Level Media
