Bellingham's brace and Kane's penalty send 10-man England past Mexico in World Cup thriller

Jude Bellingham scored twice in 98 seconds and Harry Kane added a penalty to send England into the World Cup quarterfinals with a 3-2 victory over Mexico at the Estadio Azteca on Sunday, 40 years after the same venue hosted the infamous Hand of God.

Bellingham broke the deadlock with a header in the 36th minute and struck again in the 38th from a Kane pass, silencing a crowd of 80,824 in a stadium where Mexico had been unbeaten in 10 World Cup matches — including three in this tournament. The contest grew dramatically more difficult when defender Jarell Quansah was shown a red card in the 54th minute for a dangerous foul on Jesús Gallardo, reducing England to 10 men.

Six minutes after Quansah’s dismissal, Kane stepped up to convert a penalty after Mexico goalkeeper Raúl Rangel fouled an England attacker, restoring the two-goal cushion. The goal was Kane’s sixth of the tournament and the 14th of his World Cup career, drawing level with Gerd Müller of West Germany for fifth on the all-time scoring list. He now sits one behind Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race.

Kane’s evening took a complicated turn when he conceded a penalty of his own — making him the first player since at least 1966 to both score and concede a spot-kick in a single World Cup match. Raúl Jiménez converted with a stutter-step run-up to pull Mexico back to 3-2, setting up a tense finale that England survived.

“It was a crazy game. We had to fight,” Kane said, his voice reduced to a rasp. “The occasion, the team, everything against us — we found a way.”

Bellingham, who called it the best night of his England career, was measured in his celebration. “We’ve done something incredible tonight, no doubt about it, and we’ll enjoy it,” he said. “But we’ll have a couple of days recovering, then it’s straight back to business in terms of facing Norway.”

England coach Thomas Tuchel praised the squad’s resilience after 40 minutes at altitude with a numerical disadvantage. “Forty, 50 minutes with 10 men — even at sea level it’s almost impossible to overcome, but we did it in altitude,” he said. “They’re almost too exhausted to celebrate. It’s just beautiful that players on that kind of level give everything for the win and for the country.”

England will face Norway on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida, for a place in the semifinals.