Mexico advances to World Cup Round of 16 with 3-1 win over Croatia

On Monday afternoon, Arena Pernambuco in Recife was treated to a do-or-die match between Mexico and Croatia in Group A play.

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With a win, Croatia would advance to take on the Netherlands, while a win or a tie would send Mexico through to the next round.

If Mexico was victorious, it would come down to the Brazil result to determine who would play the Netherlands and who would play against Chile in the knockout stage of the tournament.

The first half was a very physical one, with both Croatia and Mexico finding their chances on goal. Both Rafael Marquez and Ivan Rakitic picked up yellow cards for their team thanks to fouls in the opening half.

However, neither team was able to break through which left us with a scoreless tie heading into the final 45 minutes of play with a trip to the Round of 16 on the line.

When the final whistle blew, it was El Tri that advanced with an impressive 3-1 win.

More coverage: El Tri soccer | World Cup table and standings | World Cup GIFs | Croatia soccer

Mexico appeared to be getting conservative midway through the half knowing that a draw would be enough for the team to advance, but they did find themselves with a quality chance after a slick pass into the box to Giovani dos Santos. Croatia was send the ball out of play for a corner kick and Mexico was unable to convert the set piece.

In the 58th minute, Mateo Kovacic came in to relieve Sime Vrsaljko for Croatia.

On a great scoring chance for Mexico, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez was fouled inside of the box but the referee did not blow the whistle. To make matters worse for El Tri, the referees missed a clear handball in the box that should have resulted in a penalty kick.

After clearing a cornerkick, Jose Juan Vazquez picked up a yellowcard for Mexico which means he will miss the team’s next match in the tournament.

In the 72nd minute, Mexico got the goal that they needed from four-time World Cup captain Rafael Marquez, who headed the ball past Croatia’s Stipe Pletikosa for the first goal of the game. Just a few short minutes later, Andres Guardado added the second goal of the match for El Tri to put Mexico up, 2-0.

With Croatia needing three goals, they had to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, that created even more opportunities for the Mexico attack and they were not done scoring just yet. After a cornerkick, Chicharito followed up a header that was flicked on in the box to put another one in the back of the net for El Tri to give them a commanding 3-0 lead.

Mexico was comfortably ahead, but they had a bit of a mental lapse and allowed Ivan Perisic to get past for a goal. It was the first time in the 2014 World Cup that Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa gave up a goal.

Croatia was picking up the intensity, but a reckless challenge from Ante Rebic caused the referee to bring out a red card.

A man down, Croatia didn’t have enough to overcome the deficit and Mexico advanced to play the Netherlands in the next round of the tournament.

Be sure to stay tuned to FanSided.com throughout the next few weeks for the latest news and results from the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.