Mexico silences raucous Russian locals to reach semis

A lively Kazan Arena wasn't enough to spur Confederations Cup host Russia on to victory Saturday, after Mexico recorded a 2-1 win to conclude Group A and reach the semi-finals.

El Tri fell behind for the third consecutive match in the tournament following Aleksandr Samedov's rolled finish, but advanced in second place of the quartet thanks to goals either side of half-time by Nestor Araujo and Hirving Lozano.

Yuri Zhirkov was one of the busier Russians on the park, but the 33-year-old's good work was undone when he was given a second yellow card on 68 minutes for an errant elbow which struck Miguel Layun in the chops. Considering the noise created by the locals, their national team's number of men only dropped from 12 to 11.

Stanislav Cherchesov's side fought valiantly to try and get back into the game, with substitute Igor Smolnikov coming closest when he sent a side-footed volley comfortably over Guillermo Ochoa's bar with the goal at his mercy.

The Mexicans did manage to thread some decent passes together over the 90 minutes, but there will be concerns that they went a goal down once again. The winning tally wasn't indicative of the possession-based football that Juan Carlos Osorio is trying to instill in the camp, either. Lozano narrowly avoided decapitation from Igor Akinfeev when nodding home a smashed, bouncing defensive clearance from Hector Herrera. It was a goal that had the hallmarks of Port Vale, not Pachuca.

(Photo courtesy: @miseleccionmx)

With the loss, Russia became the first host eliminated at the group stage since South Korea in 2001.

Second-placed Mexico will now watch Group B's roundup Sunday with great interest. Barring a huge shock, its opponent in the final four will be whichever finishes top of the pile out of Chile and Germany.