After topping the group
Jude Bellingham scored two quick goals for England, before Julián Quiñones pulled one back for Mexico. Then Jarel Quansah was sent off in a chaotic round of 16 encounter.
Harry Kane added England’s third goal from a penalty kick, before later causing a penalty kick from which Raul Jimenez scored Mexico’s second goal. Despite the pressure, Tuchel’s team held out until the end and emerged with a valuable victory.
Tuchel said after the match: “I just want to say thank you. If you stay awake and give us your energy, I say thank you. If they think we don’t feel it, we feel it 100 percent.”
He added: “There is a lot to love about this team. They just have to keep pushing, pushing, pushing.”
He continued: “We will now go with full force. We have two days to recover, and we will use this energy to continue fighting and stay in the tournament.”
In the quarter-finals, the England team will meet Norway, which eliminated Brazil, at the “Hard Rock Stadium” in Miami.
The confrontation against Erling Haaland and his teammates will be a difficult test, but Tuchel believes that his group has proven that it possesses the required mentality in addition to technical quality.
The German coach said: “There are many lessons at the football level, but the biggest lesson is that this team has a special heart, mentality and cohesion.”
He added: “I think our fans here and in England can be proud, and I think they are really proud. This does not happen if the group does not really believe in what it is doing.”
He continued: “If the group is not cohesive in the right spirit, this is not possible. We made it possible despite all the circumstances, and we are proud of that.”
The England delegation returned directly to its headquarters in Kansas City after the match, while Jordan Henderson remained in Mexico City to undergo examinations after a wrist injury he suffered during the celebrations.
The team will begin preparing to face Norway on Wednesday, while Tuchel refused to talk about the possibility of facing Argentina in the semi-finals, even though the victory in Azteca brought back memories of a painful English history in this stadium with Diego Maradona’s famous “Hand of God” goal.
Tuchel said: “I will not talk about the semi-final. We now have the opportunity for some rest days. I will not re-watch our match, and I will not watch anything about Norway in the next 24 hours.”
He added: “I will spend a whole day without football, then we will think about Norway. We will deal with things step by step. There is no other way.”
He concluded: “We know our sad history with this stadium, and today we made peace with it. We know what it takes to beat Mexico in Azteca in the World Cup, and we know what it takes to score 3 goals against a team that has not conceded any goals yet. We are not thinking about the semi-finals.”
