Mexico had better success advancing into South Korea’s half when they avoided passing first to their fullbacks. The central pass unlocks the pass to the wing, shortening the distance between the players at the back to the front.

South Korea wanted Mexico to play this pass wide right to the right-back, Jorge Sánchez. They were baiting it because when the pass is played wide, the distance between the next open pass becomes larger. Everyone close is marked man-to-man.

The next closest pass was into Raul Jiménez, the center-forward, and you’d have to loft that pass. It couldn’t be played on the ground. Raul has shown during this tournament that he is very good at holding up play, but that pass at that angle is hard to reliably hand off to one of the midfielders, the way the players are marked and positioned.

England’s game against Croatia was similar, but England were able to bypass Croatia’s press with pace on the wings. Balls over the top on the right wing. Once they broke past once, twice, three times, then the central spaces open up.

Without Edson Álvarez at center-back this might not work. He’s calm and composed, and a more accurate passer out of the back than a traditional center back, which is what made this wall pass effective.

Mexico did not have that same pace advantage as England did on the wings. They were better off ignoring the right-back. When you ignore the right-back, then South Korea are forced to make the spaces smaller central. When they collapse central, then you can play on the ground because they’re going to have to jump eventually. When they jump, you pass central, and then you pass wide.

Compare the distances between the first image and the second image.

In the first image, it feels like the midfield is an impassable hole. In the second image, it feels like it would only take two quick passes on the ground to break through. The distances between the Mexico players is smaller.

The more Mexico avoided passing to the right-back, the more space they generated, and it became easier with time to advance into South Korea’s half.