Valdano says Mexico can challenge England after Ecuador win

Jorge Valdano’s warning landed after Mexico’s 2-0 win over Ecuador turned a familiar knockout burden into a live quarterfinal debate. The former Argentina midfielder and 1986 World Cup winner said Mexico can challenge England if Javier Aguirre’s team carries the same level into the next round.

Mexico’s case is built on more than one result. FIFA said Aguirre’s side reached the knockout round with nine points from nine in the group stage, eight goals scored and no goals conceded in its first four matches, before ending a four-decade wait for a World Cup knockout win by beating Ecuador 2-0.

That recent progress gives Valdano a reason to see danger for England, but the matchup still turns on a simple question: can Mexico repeat the discipline that shut down Ecuador? England’s own route through the tournament has shown the opening Mexico would need. Against DR Congo, England trailed for much of the match before Harry Kane scored twice late to rescue a 2-1 win.

That is the weakness Mexico would have to target. England have looked vulnerable when they cannot separate compact defenses quickly, and they have leaned heavily on Kane to finish matches that remain narrow deep into the second half. Mexico’s best path is to keep the same defensive shape that carried them through the group stage, deny England room between the lines and make every dead-ball chance count. In the Ecuador match, Mexico already showed it could threaten from set pieces, when Ecuador keeper Hernán Galíndez had to stop a César Montes header from a corner.

Valdano had already suggested in May that Mexico would carry an edge as host nation, and his connection to the 1986 World Cup at the Estadio Azteca gives that view extra weight. Aguirre said the Ecuador victory was the biggest of his coaching career, even above wins against Brazil and Italy.