Javier Hernandez praises Rafael Marquez

Mexico striker Javier Hernandez has praised teammate Rafael Marquez for his performance as they beat Croatia 3-1 to book their place in the last 16 of the World Cup.

The captain headed home to open the scoring on 72 minutes, and the Manchester United striker was delighted with his skipper's display against Niko Kovac's side.

Goal.com quotes him as saying: "He's a great character. He has a very good record, he's scored consecutively in three World Cups.

"He's a very important player for us and I think a lot of people criticise him for his age, he went to Mexico and won two leagues over there and now he's the captain here, scoring goals and supporting us in the best way possible, inside and outside of the pitch."

Mexico will meet the Netherlands in the next round.