Argentina 2 Mexico 1: Rodriguez's extra touch of magic floors Mexico

Classic encounter settled by wonder goal for Argentina after 120 minutes of breathless action ends campaign of La Volpe's heroes

Maxi Rodriguez celebrates his fabulous winning goal

Argentina head for Berlin, and a mouthwatering quarter-final with Germany, but they left here last night with their cloak of invincibility shattered by brave and resourceful opponents.

It took a breathtaking goal by Maxi Rodriguez to break the resistance of a Mexican side who had scored in the fifth minute through Barcelona's Rafael Marquez. Though a Jared Borgetti own goal - which was subsequently awarded to Hernan Crespo - soon levelled the scores it was not until the eighth minute of extra time that Rodriguez cushioned Juan Pablo Sorin's long pass on his chest and hit a volley to match Joe Cole's for England against Sweden on Tuesday evening.

This gripping tie could easily have gone the other way. Gabriel Heinze narrowly avoided being dismissed at the end of the first half after he compounded an error with a professional foul. Mexico also had opportunities first to snatch a late win, and then to force the game into penalties. But Argentina will argue that they had a late winner erroneously chalked off for offside and the greater imagination of their play just about edged the hard-working, sweet-passing Mexicans.

Friday's quarter-final will be a repeat of the 1986 and 1990 finals, the latter won by a German team including current coach Jürgen Klinsmann. It will mark Argentina's sixth successive passage into the last eight on European soil. Maybe this time they will go on to emulate Brazil and win on the continent. If so they may look back on this night in the old East Germany, not the 6-0 romp past a hapless Serbia & Montenegro, as the match which forged the combination of silk and steel which is required to succeed.

For Mexico there is only the role of heroic losers. Once again they have failed to reach the last eight, a feat only achieved amid the smog and altitude of their capital. But Ricardo La Volpe's team justified their elevated Fifa ranking and are young enough to prosper in four years' time.

They had previously played well only in patches in this tournament but, buoyed by a good record against Argentina, they took the game to La Volpe's countrymen immediately, seeking to take advantage of one of Argentina's few perceived weaknesses, their aerial ability.

In the first minute they won a corner which Borgetti met first only for the ball to be deflected on to the roof of the net. Four minutes later, Jose Antonio Castro was fouled on the flank. Pavel Pardo whipped in the free-kick, Mario Mendez beat Crespo at the near post and Marquez escaped from Heinze to stab in the flick-on at the far.

Argentina were stunned, the Mexicans ecstatic. But their advantage did not last long enough for them to savour it. Argentina, on their first serious foray, won a corner. Taken by Juan Roman Riquelme, it was met by a combination of Borgetti's head and Crespo's boot. The Bolton striker looked to be the inadvertent scorer but Crespo is not one to turn down the chance of claiming a goal and he wheeled away in ostentatious celebration.

Parity had been achieved but earning a lead would prove more difficult. The Mexicans, deploying a fluid 3-3-3-1 formation, were well-drilled defensively and for all the clever movement of Crespo and Javier Saviola, openings were rare. Once the cover was breached, Esteban Cambiasso delivered a brilliant round-the-shoulder chipped pass to Crespo, but the Chelsea striker put his lob wide.

Not that Mexico were hanging on. Their own threat was enough to put a frown on the watching Diego Maradona's brow. Borgetti brought a flying save from Roberto Abbondanzieri and Gerardo Torrado scooped a shot over.

Then, in injury-time Heinze allowed Abbondanzieri's tapped goal-kick to roll away from him. Francisco Fonseca plucked it away but was then dragged down by Heinze. But for Roberto Ayala's nearby presence, his yellow card would have been a red one. As it was, Heinze stayed on. The free-kick was wasted, and La Volpe stalked off to the dressing room in a fury.

The way his team continued to frustrate and worry Argentina after the break should have eased his mood. It was an indication of how well Mexico were playing that, as the game approached the hour-mark, it was impossible to anticipate who would emerge victorious.

Borgetti, coming on to Ramon Morales' clever cross, almost scored when Sorin's clearance rebounded off his head. At the other end Oswaldo Sanchez tipped over a Rodriguez drive from Riquelme's deep corner. The playmaker then fed a beautiful pass to Saviola but Sanchez beat his shot away.

Jose Pekerman refreshed his team with Carlos Tevez, Pablo Aimar and Lionel Messi, quite a three-card trick to have in reserve, and in injury-time they combined for Messi to "score" only for an errant flag to rule it out. But before then Fonseca should have headed in from Gonzalo Pineda's cross.

So it was into extra-time and the only Argentinian attacker on the pitch not to have been christened the "next Maradona" conjured a goal the maestro himself would have been proud off. "I had not decided to shoot, but the ball fell right in front of me," Rodriguez said. "It's one of those shots that can go into the stands or in the goal."