Mexico virtually booked their place in the World Cup Last 16 for the seventh consecutive tournament with a game to spare after beating South Korea by two goals to one in Group F, simultaneously all but condemning their tireless opponents to an early exit.
Los Angeles FC forward Carlos Vela scored a penalty to open the scoring in front of a vibrant crowd in Rostov-on-Don, with West Ham's Javier Hernandez adding the killer second after half-time. Son Heung-min's later screamer threatened to set up a grandstand finish.
Mexico were expected to be the dominant force ahead of the game and that's exactly how things started, yet it was the Koreans who had the best early chances in the opening quarter of the contest - Ki Sung-yueng's header saved by Guillermo Ochoa the pick of the bunch.