Kane's late double rescues England; the last-16 tie is Mexico at the Azteca

DR Congo led for 68 minutes

DR Congo were playing the first World Cup knockout match in their history, and they started as if they belonged. In the seventh minute a crossfield ball was flicked on by Chancel Mbemba to Brian Cipenga, left alone on the edge of the box, and he drove a low shot past Jordan Pickford at the near post. It was Cipenga's first goal for his country.

England chased the game for more than an hour. Thomas Tuchel's side did not level until the 75th minute, when Kane met Anthony Gordon's cross with a downward header. Eleven minutes later Kane turned away from his marker and lashed a shot inside the near post. England had never before won a World Cup match after trailing at half-time; now they had, and Kane's brace took him to 13 World Cup goals, one clear of Pele. It also carried England into the round of 16 for a third straight tournament. DR Congo had led for 68 minutes and could not answer the two blows that came in the space of eleven.

The reward is the hardest room in the tournament

Waiting in the last 16 is Mexico, and the setting is the Estadio Azteca. Hours earlier, the co-hosts had beaten Ecuador 2-0 in the same stadium, Julian Quinones scoring in the 22nd minute and Raul Jimenez in the 31st — two goals inside nine first-half minutes. Ecuador finished with ten men after Piero Hincapie was sent off. A lightning delay pushed the kickoff back an hour and changed nothing about the noise inside.

That win carried more than three points. It was Mexico's first World Cup knockout victory in 40 years — the same 2-0 scoreline, in the same stadium, as their last one, against Bulgaria in 1986. Local and international outlets framed it as the end of "El Quinto Partido," the drought of eight tournaments without reaching a fifth match. Mexico are now unbeaten in ten World Cup games at the Azteca.

What it means for the July 6 morning in Japan

England versus Mexico kicks off at 9 a.m. Japan time on Monday, July 6. It lands on the same morning as Brazil versus Norway, which starts at 5 a.m. Japan time — the tie that decides how far the side who knocked Japan out can go. For a reader in Japan planning what to watch after the national team's exit, July 6 now holds two knockout matches back to back.

English and international writers read the DR Congo scare as a warning before a trip to the Azteca, where an altitude above 2,200 metres, the crowd, and Mexico's record make it one of the tournament's hardest venues — and Mexico arrive with a curse just lifted. Whether a side that needed two late Kane goals to see off DR Congo can silence that stadium is the question the last-16 draw has now set.