Mexico
booked a last-16 tie against the Netherlands after knocking Croatia out of the
2014 Fifa World Cup.
The Croats, who knew a win would put
them through, survived a scare when a Hector Herrera strike hit the crossbar.
But Rafael Marquez headed in for
Mexico before Andres Guardado drove in a shot and Javier Hernandez nodded home
to put them 3-0 up.
"Mexico deserve this because
they have shown ambition. Croatia have technical players but they just didn't
turn up, Luka Modric got nowhere near the game. It was a really disappointing
performance from Croatia; no real intensity, no real desire."
Ivan Perisic scored for Croatia,
whose misery was compounded when Ante Rebic was sent off late on.
It was an accomplished display from
the North Americans, who nullified Croatia's threat before imposing their
authority on the Group A game.
A draw would have been enough for
Mexico, but they made sure of a seventh knockout stage appearance in the last
eight tournaments with a victory.
In contrast, Croatia crumbled in the
latter stages and have now been eliminated at the group stage in four of their
last five major tournaments.
Croatia playmaker Luka Modric had
claimed Mexico benefited from a "great deal of luck" in their draw with hosts Brazil, but it
was the Real Madrid midfielder's side who enjoyed the early fortune at the
Arena Pernambuco in Recife.
Following Mexican defender Paul
Aguilar's last-ditch header to stop striker Mario Mandzukic nodding in, the
Aztecs went up the other end and twice went close.
Midfielder Herrera let fly from 25
yards and was only denied when his left-foot strike came crashing back off the
crossbar, while team-mate Oribe Peralta was played through only to mis-time his
effort and shoot wide.
Croatia's threat was being contained
and one of the rare opportunities that came their way involved Perisic latching
onto a knockdown .
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