Mexico will try to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1986 when it faces England Sunday in a round of 16 match in Mexico City, with multiple free viewing parties set for Los Angeles County.
El Tri reached the knockout stage in each World Cup from 1994 through 2018 but lost in the round of 16 each time. It was eliminated in the group stage in 2022.
Mexico was disqualified from the 1990 tournament as punishment for the Mexican Football Federation knowingly using at least four overage players on the Mexico team that played at the 1988 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament.
The Opta supercomputer is predicting that Mexico’s round of 16 appearance will again end in failure, giving England a 54.22% chance of advancing to the quarterfinals based on 10,000 pre-match simulations, and Mexico a 45.78% chance.
Mexico advanced to the round of 16 with a 2-0 victory over Ecuador Tuesday. El Tri and Spain are the only teams in the tournament to have not allowed a goal.
“Just because you haven’t conceded a goal doesn’t mean everything is perfect defensively,” Mexico defender Johan Vasquez said. “The two don’t necessarily equate. There have been times when a teammate, the goalkeeper or someone else has saved us, and all the credit goes to the defense. But it’s really a collective effort.”
England defeated Congo, 2-1, Wednesday to reach the round of 16 for the seventh time in the past eight tournaments.
The Three Lions are fourth in the unofficial rankings released after the completion of Saturday’s play by FIFA, soccer’s global governing body. Mexico is 10th.
The rankings are based on a point system in which points are added to or subtracted from a team’s total based on the latest result. The ranking is considered unofficial until all matches are approved as international `A’ matches. The latest official ranking was released June 11, the day the World Cup began.
England captain Harry Kane is tied for third in scoring with Norwegian forward Erling Haaland with five goals each, two behind Argentine forward Lionel Messi and French forward Kylian Mbappe.
The Three Lions are 6-2-1 against Mexico. England was a 2-0 winner over Mexico in their only previous World Cup meeting, a group stage match in 1966, the only time England won the World Cup.
The England-Mexico match is set to begin at 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The winner will face the winner of Sunday’s 1 p.m. match between Brazil and Norway in a quarterfinal Saturday in Miami.
Free watch parties for both of Sunday’s matches will be held at Lanark Recreation Center in Canoga Park, Northridge Recreation Center and Sycamore Grove Park in Highland Park as part of the Kick It In the Park program organized by various city of Los Angeles departments that also include youth soccer clinics, neighborhood programming and community resources.
Attendance is limited to 1,000 people at a time. Alcohol sale, possession and consumption is not permitted. Attendees are advised by organizers to bring blankets, chairs, snacks and reusable water bottles.
More information is available at kickit.lacity.gov.
Free watch parties will also be held at Galaxy Park at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles and Hammer Museum in Westwood.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson Park in the unincorporated Willowbrook area, near Compton, is a Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Fan Zone Sunday and will also conduct free watch parties for both matches.
There will also be musical performances, drumlines and other cultural performances; soccer skills challenges; art workshops; drum-making; dance; giant board games and family activities.
A watch party for only the Mexico-England match will be held at the Plaza Mexico retail and cultural center in Lynwood beginning at 4 p.m.
Both matches will be televised in English by Fox and in Spanish by Telemundo.