MEXICO CITY, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Co-host Mexico reached the World Cup round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Ecuador on Tuesday, while Norway and France also advanced.
In Mexico City, Julian Quinones scored one goal and set up another as Mexico secured its first World Cup knockout victory since it last hosted the tournament in 1986.
Quinones put his side ahead following a swift counterattack, and he then provided the pass for Raul Jimenez to double the lead.
El Tri will next meet either England or the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Mexico City on July 5.
"This is just the first step," Quinones said after the match. "We are going to have to work harder now to go further and make our fans even happier."
In Dallas, Erling Haaland scored an 86th-minute winner as Norway overcame Cote d'Ivoire 2-1.
Antonio Nusa opened the scoring for the European side by combining with Martin Odegaard before curling a shot into the top corner.
Amad Diallo equalized in the 74th minute with a clinical finish past Orjan Nyland after a neat one-two with Nicolas Pepe. Norway regained the advantage when Patrick Berg set up Haaland for the Manchester City striker's fifth goal of the tournament.
"We played against a fantastic team who have some absolute monsters, physically, who got the better of us in the duels at times," Norway manager Stale Solbakken told a post-match news conference.
"The match swung back and forth, it looked like it could go either way. I think we had one or two more chances than they had so all in all, it was a deserved win. But I feel for their coach - the margins were slim. It's hard to put into words [what it means]."
Norway will play Brazil in New Jersey on Sunday with a place in the quarterfinals at stake.
Cote d'Ivoire manager Emerse Fae rued his team's missed chances and vowed his team would come back stronger.
"That's football. When you get chances, you have to score," he said. "It was everyone's first World Cup. I think the players have learned a lot. Now, we'll work on coming back stronger for the next challenges."
In New Jersey, Kylian Mbappe drew level with Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race as France cruised to a 3-0 win over Sweden.
Mbappe struck either side of Bradley Barcola's 53rd-minute strike as France set up a round of 16 meeting with Paraguay in Philadelphia on Saturday.
"I feel a lot of pride," France manager Didier Deschamps said. "We're on a mission. Now, there's another hurdle to overcome; that's what the players are here for. We mustn't look too far ahead, the risk being to be brought back down to earth."
Sweden manager Graham Potter admitted his team was outclassed from start to finish.
"We had to be perfect, and even if we were, I'm not sure that would have been enough," he told reporters. "You look at the careers and the CVs of the French team, you compare them to ours, where we're at - we're a young developing team with hopefully a lot of good things ahead of us." ■
