No Mexican vertigo for USMNT
The United States men’s national team will try to overcome a winless history in World Cup qualifying at the Azteca stadium on Thursday night.
The ‘golden generation’ of the United States men’s national team knows what it takes to defeat the Mexico national team at the biggest stages. Last year, the USMNT defeated Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League final in overtime and a month later they beat them again in the Gold Cup final to win back-to-back trophies against their biggest rivals in CONCACAF.
“The feeling that you have when you can beat or win a rivalry game is amazing,” said Tyler Adams. “So to go down there and take care of business would be important for the group, important for our confidence and obviously show the strength of the group to be able to go to an away game and win in a hard qualifying cycle.”
In November, the United States hosted Mexico for a third time in 2021 and they won 2-0 with a late goal from Christian Pulisic to secure the second place in the World Cup qualifiers, this result also left El Tri in third. So three big wins for the USMNT, but they were all played in different stadiums in the United States.
The altitude will not be a factor
This will be the first time for several players of the ‘golden generation’ that will play in the altitude of Mexico City at Estadio Azteca and they don’t think it will be a factor. Also the USMNT wants to overcome the winless history in World Cup qualifiers at the Azteca stadium on Thursday night that would put them on the verge of securing a spot in Qatar in November.
“The altitude affects everyone, unless you live there. It will take us a few minutes to adapt, but it is all mental. I have spoken to people that play in Colorado and in Mexico City and they told me it is all mental. So we are ready and it will be exciting,” said Tyler Adams in the press conference held in Houston.
“It will be an incredible atmosphere [at Estadio Azteca]. It is a tough stadium to play in and Mexico has a lot of good players. Maybe the Mexican national team is more used to the altitude, but it is the same for both teams,” added USMNT ace Gio Reyna. “We reported to camp in Denver during the summer to prepare for this game, so we will be fine. Everyone is in top shape.”