Despite beating Saudi Arabia, Mexico is eliminated from the World Cup due to a worse goal differential.

Even though Mexico beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 in the World Cup’s final Group C match, they were eliminated in heartbreak due to a worse goal differential.

Mexico won thanks to second-half goals from Henry Martin and Luis Chavez, but they finished third behind Poland after Poland scored late through Salem Al-Dawsari.

Mexico was eliminated due to FIFA’s fair play rules, so they desperately tried to score a third goal to improve their goal difference and keep themselves in the tournament.

After pulling off one of the tournament’s biggest upsets with a victory over Argentina in their opening match, Saudi Arabia promptly fell to earth with a 2-0 loss to Poland in their second contest.

Herve Renard, the team’s coach, pushed his players to prove they were more than a fluke by advancing to the quarterfinals, a feat not accomplished by a Saudi team since 1994.

Mexico had lost their first two group games in 44 years, so they knew they needed to win this one to have any chance of advancing to the round of 16 for the eighth straight World Cup.

After Mexico’s 2-0 defeat to Argentina, head coach Gerardo Martino opted to replace his starting back five with an attacking unit that included Martin.

Goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais of Saudi Arabia sprinted out to deny Alexis Vega after he had been played in behind the defense by Hirving Lozano.

In the 2-1 victory over Argentina, Al-Owais was credited as a hero for his tentative palming away of a bouncing cross in front of a diving Martin and for holding weak attempts by Chavez and Orbelin Pineda.

Adding to Saudi Arabia’s mounting list of casualties, defender Ali Al-Bulayhi was forced off with an injury and Mohamed Kanno’s resulting free kick sailed just over the crossbar.

Mexico kept trying to score, but their best chance came when Ali Al-Hassan’s diving header just missed the far post at the end of the first half, which would have ecstatically riled the majority of the predominantly Saudi crowd.

Right after the half, Chavez tested Al-Owais, and then Martin broke the deadlock with a close-range finish off a Cesar Montes corner that was set up by a deft flick.

Five minutes later, Chavez scored Mexico’s second goal with a spectacular free-kick curl into the top corner from 30 meters out.

Lozano had a goal disallowed for offside as Mexico pressed for a third goal while keeping an eye on the score between Argentina and Poland.

Martin missed a golden opportunity, and Al-Owais saved a free kick from Chavez. Al-Owais also dove to his right to claw out a drive from Lozano.

Uriel Antuna then had another goal disallowed for offside before Al-Dawsari’s late strike put an end to the drama.