Mexico qualify from Group A with three late goals against Croatia

In a bad-tempered Group A battle for second place Mexico won through to claim the dubious privilege of playing Holland in Fortaleza on Sunday, showing by the end that they may be able to pose a few problems for Louis van Gaal and his players.

Miguel Herrera’s side went into this game having scored only one goal at the World Cup. While crucially they had not conceded any either, they played for an hour as if trying to get by on the minimum requirement before hitting a tiring Croatia with three goals in the last 18 minutes.

Croatia had defended well up to that point, without generating enough forward momentum to suggest they could get the win they needed. When Javier Hernández scored from close range to make it 3-0 after his captain Rafael Márquez had nudged on a corner, Mexico and their army of supporters had everything they wanted and more. Mexico were not uninspired after all, they were merely biding their time, waiting their moment.

Now that they have progressed with four goals for and just one against, even Holland may be worried, for with the support Mexico can bring to World Cup games in this part of the world an intimidating atmosphere comes as standard.

“The first half lacked a bit of daring but as soon as the first goal went in you could see how happy it made the fans,” Herrera said. “It was just like playing at home. Tomorrow we will start working on the Netherlands. We know they have a solid team with important players but let’s enjoy tonight first. Tonight we spend with our families.”

Croatia started out in the more attacking mode, as they knew they had to. Herrera might have promised Mexico would go for the win rather than play for a draw but that did not mean they were going to be gung-ho about it.

Ivan Rakitic created the first chance when he crossed for Ivan Perisic to shoot too high, before the tension of the game and the din being made by the overwhelming Mexican presence in the stadium began to transmit itself to the players. Darijo Srna was lucky to get away with a blatant barge on Andrés Guardado, before Rakitic picked up the first caution after 10 minutes for a foul on José Vázquez.

It was not all one way, Márquez floored Luka Modric before football made a reappearance. Guillermo Ochoa left his line sharply to prevent Ivica Olic finding Mario Mandzukic in front of goal before Mexico registered their first goal attempt of the game and nearly scored, Héctor Herrera crashing a shot against the angle of post and bar from the edge of the area.

A commotion in the neutral seats indicated Brazil had taken the lead against Cameroon – unsurprisingly there was no visible crowd reaction when Joel Matip equalised – before Daniel Pranjic and Perisic both went close with rising shots that cleared the bar. By the half-hour neither goalkeeper had been called on to make a fully fledged save, which was more of a worry for Croatia than Mexico. Ochoa may have had the game of his life against Brazil but Croatia needed at least to put him to the test. Srna had a chance to do that with a free-kick from 25 yards just before the interval, Márquez having been booked for illegally halting Perisic’s run from half way, but his shot flew too high without any help from the goalkeeper.

It had been a feisty first half, typified by Srna and Guardado squaring up to each other in the closing stages. While Croatia had managed to turn the volume in the stadium down by a couple of notches if not quite to silence the Mexican support, they could not be completely satisfied without Mandzukic making his presence felt up front and asking more questions of Ochoa.

It is remarkable, given that he is only a bit part player these days for his country as well as his club, how many Mexican fans have Hernández’s name on the back of their shirts. He is extraordinarily popular, and the roar when he took the field for Giovani dos Santos after an hour was easily the loudest of the night up to that point. The next loudest was the appeal for a penalty when Guardado’s goalbound effort hit Srna on the arm and the referee refused to give it.

Herrera was incandescent on the touchline and replays suggested he had a point. It was perhaps not the most deliberate of handballs yet Srna’s arms were outstretched and there was no doubt that was what deflected the shot.

Mexico were in the ascendancy by the mid-point of the second half, with Vedran Corluka clearing off his line following a corner and Stipe Pletikosa saving from Paul Aguilar with his foot. The only surprise when the deadlock was broken was that the goal came from a set piece, Márquez climbing above Corluka at a corner to nod firmly down past Pletikosa. Three minutes later the Arena Pernambuco exploded into a riot of noise and colour as Guardado made the game safe, calmly slotting home from six yards after Herrera’s pass had missed out Hernández.

Perisic did pull a goal back at the end to sully Mexico’s goals against column, if not spoil their perfect night, before Ante Rebic sullied Croatia’s World Cup exit after a mere 10 minutes on the pitch, deservedly seeing red for a an unnecessary and spiteful foul on Carlos Peña.

“I can’t criticise the players too much; we did what we could,” Niko Kovac said. “We controlled the midfield in the first half, but in the second, we had to switch formation to give us more chance of a goal and we ended up losing that area. In the end we couldn’t spring a surprise, but life goes on.”