West Ham United supporters will be able to watch Chicharito and Mexico continue their quest for 2018 FIFA World Cup glory against Brazil on Monday afternoon.
ITV1 and the ITV Hub will screen live coverage as the Hammers striker and his fellow countrymen seek to upset the form book and score a famous victory over the five-times champions, with kick-off at 3pm BST.
Mexico advanced as Group F runners-up after losing 3-0 to Sweden, who topped the table, with South Korea’s shock 2-0 win over Germany eliminating both nations, but Chicharito dismissed the suggestion that his country had been fortunate to advance in an Instagram post.
It remains clear that we have everything to gain and we need to keep working, especially mentally and emotionally
Chicharito
“We did not advance thanks to Korea, but thanks to our own work [in beating Germany and South Korea in our opening two matches],” he wrote. “We did not lose because we are stupid, but in fact we qualified and gained consciousness because we had a big rival and mentally we saw where to improve.
“It remains clear that we have everything to gain and we need to keep working, especially mentally and emotionally.
“Let's enjoy the qualification [for the Round of 16] and let’s learn from our mistakes. Support us, even if things do not go as you would like.”
Chicharito is playing in his third World Cup finals, but felt the disappointment of elimination at the Round of 16 stage in both 2010 and 2014.
Eight years ago, the 30-year-old scored a consolation goal as Mexico were beaten 3-1 by Argentina in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Four years later, Chicharito was introduced as a second-half substitute with El Tri leading the Netherlands 1-0 in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, only for two late goals from Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to break Mexican hearts and send the Dutch through to the quarter-finals.
The odds are against Mexico again this time around, with West Ham’s principal partners Betway rating the CONCACAF nation a 13/2 chance to upset the South Americans, who are 8/15 favourites to advance.
Mexico have reached but not passed the Round of 16 in each of the last seven World Cup finals dating back to 1986, when they hosted the tournament and reached the quarter-finals.
Chicharito will almost certainly start in what will be his 12th FIFA World Cup finals appearance on Monday. The West Ham forward will be vital to Mexico’s chances, too, having scored four goals in his previous eleven games at the tournament.
In all, the striker has featured 45 times in FIFA tournaments dating back to the FIFA U20 World Cup in Canada in 2007, scoring 16 goals, winning 25 times and finishing on the losing side on just ten occasions.