SAMARA, Russia -- Death, taxes and Mexico making (and subsequently exiting) the round-of-16 stage at the World Cup.

El Tri's consistency at the tournament is a statistical freak. Mexico has advanced beyond the group stage of the World Cup for the seventh consecutive tournament in Russia. Only Monday's opponent, Brazil, can say the same thing, with the important caveat that Mexico has won zero of the six games after advancing in those prior competitions.

Even reaching the round of 16 this time around involved a bizarre occurrence. Not many expected that Germany, ranked first in the FIFA rankings, would lose to South Korea (ranked 57th) and thus allow El Tri to go through from Group F in second position even though they were thumped 3-0 by Sweden in their final group game.

World Cup 2018 must-reads

- Make your daily picks with ESPN FC Match Predictor 2018!

- World Cup fixtures, results and coverage

- World Cup Daily live: Follow all the action with ESPN

- Russia defy expectations with Spain win

- Can England put their penalty woes behind them?

- Pekerman continues to break records as Colombia coach

And now, in Samara, comes the game that defines Mexican soccer, for better or for worse. Advancing to the "quinto partido" ("fifth game") has become something of an obsession in Mexico even if the squad hasn't been focusing on it. It's not difficult to see why, either, given how many times this last-16 hurdle has been their stumbling point.

Should Mexico surprise Brazil and win, it will likely be heralded as a huge step forward. It would certainly be the greatest result in the history of the Mexican national team as well. If El Tri doesn't, the inquest will begin on what the country has to do. As usual when it comes to basing analysis on short-term results, the reality is somewhere in-between.

Andres Guardado said that this game would be a battle but that Mexico control their own destiny vs. Brazil. YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images

Mexico will become a world power capable of consistently challenging at the latter stages of World Cups when it has more youngsters getting opportunities in Liga MX, a greater number of players are in the very best leagues and when coaching standards improve at the "grass-roots" level. But that debate can wait.

As it is, it's easy to forget that it El Tri has won only one knockout game ever at a World Cup and none outside Mexico. The fact that center-back Hector Moreno is suspended and Diego Reyes and Nestor Araujo were ruled out of Russia 2018 before the tournament due to injury is another blow. All three would likely be in coach Juan Carlos Osorio's plans if available.

The tag of "underdog" is very much Mexico's to wear against Brazil on Monday although that has an upside. Maybe, just maybe, the fact Brazil is such a heavy favorite means Mexico has very little to lose, in comparison to the South American side. The world expects Brazil to advance, although Mexico's players see the game as the ideal setting to break the "quinto partido" curse against a side El Tri has never beaten in the World Cup.

"We'd never defeated Germany in a World Cup and we achieved it in this one," said midfielder Andres Guardado in a news conference on Friday. "That's what we cling to. We've come here to make history and it's in our hands."

"We're going to do everything possible because in the end we know that [not having beaten Brazil in a World Cup] is a statistic and when the game starts, statistics don't count."

Some point to Mexico's record against Brazil being good. Mexico won Olympic gold in 2012 against the Brazilians, overcame them in the 1999 Confederations Cup final and managed to draw at the group stage of the World Cup in 2014. It's also true that stylistically, Brazil shouldn't cause Mexico the same problems through sheer physicality as Sweden did. Mexico and Brazil play similar systems and El Tri tends to do better against teams that want to come out and play.

But make no mistake: this is a David against Goliath clash, the best of CONMEBOL against CONCACAF's strongest team. This Brazil side scored 41 goals and only conceded 11 over 18 games in qualifying; 10 of the starting XI play for elite European clubs with Atletico Madrid, Juventus, PSG, Liverpool and Manchester City regulars also on their bench. Perhaps none of Mexico's squad would make Brazil's starting XI, to give some perspective as to the size of their task.

Mexico have reached the last 16 in seven consecutive tournaments but failed to reach a single quarterfinal. What will happen on Monday? Hector Vivas/Getty Images

For Mexico's players this will be the game of their lives, which can't be said of Brazil. And for a generation of Mexican players -- Javier Hernandez (30 years old), Hector Moreno (30), Guillermo Ochoa (32), Giovani dos Santos (29), Guardado (31), Miguel Layun (30) and Carlos Vela (29) -- it may not be their last World Cup but it certainly will be the final time they, among them the 2005 Under-17 World Cup winners and the 2012 Olympic gold-medal winners, are in their prime in a World Cup.

"The fact this may be our last important game to change history doesn't motivate us. It doesn't go through our heads that this could be our last opportunity," said Guardado. "What motivates us is the fact that we are in a round of 16, with Brazil before us and we're one victory away from reaching the fifth game at last."

"It's in our hands."

In other words, Mexico sees this game as an opportunity. And why not? El Tri has little to lose in comparison to the nerves and uncertainty that appeared to hamper the group against Sweden.

If Mexico really does want to carry out amazing things in Russia and beyond, as Javier Hernandez has suggested, it really doesn't get much bigger than knocking Brazil out of a World Cup.