Estadio Azteca in Mexico Metropolis is probably the most famed soccer venue in North America. For MLS groups, it is a home of horrors.
No MLS staff has ever gained a aggressive match at Azteca, the house stadium of Membership América. América, probably the most adorned membership in Mexico, is 5-0-1 towards groups from the US and Canada when taking part in there. Fellow Liga MX membership Cruz Azul beat MLS groups there in 2021 and 2022 when it known as Azteca its dwelling.
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That is what is up towards within the second leg of its CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal collection towards Membership América on April 14 (10:30 p.m. CT, FS1). After a at Geodis Park on April 7, Nashville must win or draw, offered that draw is 1-1 or better as a result of away targets tiebreaker, to advance to its first-ever continental semifinal.
“It is a fantastic alternative in your skilled profession to take two minutes and pause and take into consideration the place we get to play and the historical past of a stadium like that,” mentioned Nashville coach B.J. Callaghan. “However on the identical time, you flip the change as a professional, and we perceive that we will have a well-coached and arranged opponent.”
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
Apr 7, 2026; Nashville, TN, USA; Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar (10) shoots the ball by way of the legs of Membership America midfielder Rodrigo Dourado (17) in an try to attain throughout their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal match at Geodis Park. Obligatory Credit score: Alan Poizner-Imagn Pictures
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
Apr 7, 2026; Nashville, TN, USA; Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar (10) shoots the ball by way of the legs of Membership America midfielder Rodrigo Dourado (17) in an try to attain throughout their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal match at Geodis Park. Obligatory Credit score: Alan Poizner-Imagn Pictures
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – APRIL 07: Hany Mukhtar #10 of Nashville SC reacts to a play through the first half of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Quarterfinals towards América at GEODIS Park on April 07, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Picture by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Pictures)
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – APRIL 07: Reed Baker-Whiting #27 of Nashville SC heads the ball on internet through the first half of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Quarterfinals towards América at GEODIS Park on April 07, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Picture by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Pictures)
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – APRIL 07: Cristian Espinoza #7 of Nashville SC reacts to a play through the first half of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Quarterfinals towards Membership América at GEODIS Park on April 07, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Picture by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Pictures)
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
Apr 7, 2026; Nashville, TN, USA; Nashville SC ahead Sam Surridge (9) seems to go the ball throughout their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal match towards Membership America at Geodis Park. Obligatory Credit score: Alan Poizner-Imagn Pictures
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
Apr 7, 2026; Nashville, TN, USA; Nashville SC midfielder Cristian Espinoza (7) drives the ball as Membership America defender Miguel Vazquez (32) approaches him throughout their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal match at Geodis Park. Obligatory Credit score: Alan Poizner-Imagn Pictures
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
Apr 7, 2026; Nashville, TN, USA; Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar (10) dribbles the ball previous Membership America midfielder Erick Sanchez (28) throughout their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal match at Geodis Park. Obligatory Credit score: Alan Poizner-Imagn Pictures
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – APRIL 07: Cristian Espinoza #7 of Nashville SC reacts to a play through the first half of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Quarterfinals towards Membership América at GEODIS Park on April 07, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Picture by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Pictures)
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Nashville SC vs Membership America pictures in CONCACAF Champions Cup
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – APRIL 07: A normal view of Geodis Park previous to the CONCACAF Champions Cup Quarterfinals between Nashville SC and Membership América on April 07, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Picture by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Pictures)
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Callaghan coached at Azteca in 2022 when he was an assistant with the US males’s nationwide staff. The tied Mexico 0-0 in a qualifier for the FIFA World Cup, a uncommon American success story. Total, the USMNT is 1-9-3 towards Mexico at Azteca, with the lone victory coming in a 2012 pleasant. That pleasant is the one time in 29 matches the US has ever overwhelmed Mexico on Mexican soil.
MLS groups have fared little higher. As an entire, the league has six wins, 18 attracts and 72 losses when taking part in in Mexico, all of these matches coming within the CONCACAF Champions Cup or Champions League, its earlier iteration. Liga MX sides have superior 41 of 51 occasions once they host the ultimate leg of a CCC or CCL collection.
What makes it so troublesome? Liga MX, which was based in 1943, is extensively thought of the stronger league. That is comprehensible, contemplating it has a 53-year head begin on MLS. As well as, lots of Mexico’s finest golf equipment are based mostly at excessive altitude: half the league’s groups play at stadiums a minimum of a mile above sea stage. Azteca’s elevation is 7,200 toes — 2,000 increased than the very best MLS stadium, the ‘ Dick’s Sporting Items’ Park.
At excessive altitude, decrease atmospheric stress forces oxygen molecules within the air additional aside. This implies there’s much less obtainable for respiration. At Azteca’s elevation, the efficient oxygen share of the air is , almost 25% lower than at sea stage. That is sure to take its toll over the course of a 90-minute match, particularly for MLS groups, who play the overwhelming majority of video games at 1,000 toes or under.
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“We have been very proactive with our excessive efficiency and medical staff main in as soon as we knew we might be going there,” Callaghan mentioned. “This group is a very diligent, skilled group of fellows in that locker room. We do not have to pressure something. They care for themselves.”
Azteca, which reopened in March after two years of renovations, has a capability of 87,253, which can make it by far the most important Nashville has ever performed in. The stadium hosted World Cup finals in 1970 and 1986, however is maybe extra well-known for a 1986 quarterfinal match between and through which Diego Maradona scored two of probably the most well-known targets ever: the “Hand of God” and the “Aim of the Century.”
“It is extra about appreciation,” mentioned defender . “Appreciating the place I began, the boy who began taking part in on a mud pitch. … Proper now, I am simply trying ahead and completely satisfied to be there. I am simply going to image it like I am taking part in in Nashville’s stadium.”
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Added goalkeeper : “That is why you play the game, to play in historic stadiums like that. Clearly, Maradona did the ‘Hand of God’ there. It is fairly distinctive, massive stadium, massive environment. It is gonna be actually particular.”