Roberto Alvarado picked out Quinones with a perfectly weighted pass through Ecuador‘s high press and the Colombian-born forward shrugged off Willian Pacho before opening his body and unleashing a thunderous finish into the top corner for his third goal of the tournament.
Mexico doubled their advantage nine minutes later after Ecuador cheaply surrendered possession on the edge of their own penalty area. Jimenez started the move himself, exchanged passes with Quinones and rifled a first-time strike into the top corner for his 47th international goal, moving within five of Javier Hernandez’s all-time Mexico scoring record.
The hosts looked transformed by their two-goal cushion, playing with confidence and intensity as Ecuador struggled to contain waves of green-shirted attacks roared on by the crowd.
Ecuador showed signs of life before the break and almost pulled one back when Yeboah cut inside and unleashed a rising drive that forced Raul Rangel into an excellent diving save, but Mexico went into halftime firmly in control after producing arguably their most complete 45 minutes of the tournament.
TEAM’S RALLYING CRY
The second half began with thousands of Mexico supporters chanting “Y si sí?” (“What if?”), a slogan that has become the team’s rallying cry during the tournament as belief spread through the packed Azteca that this could finally be the year the hosts ended their long knockout drought.
Ecuador enjoyed more of the ball after the restart as they searched for a way back into the contest, but without threatening Rangel.
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