The US Men's National Soccer team is in Columbus, preparing to face Mexico in a pivotal World Cup Qualifier at Crew Stadium tonight. The two teams have met many times, but what U.S. fans like to remember are a trio of 2-0 results earned in Columbus—the series they call "dos a cero." Pablo Maurer reports on the relationship between the national team and the stadium.
To understand how the US came to count Columbus among its favored stadiums, you have to cross the border and pay a visit to Estadio Azteca, home to the Mexican national team. The United States has long struggled in Mexico, losing all but a couple of matches in 26 attempts over the past four decades.
To make matters worse, matches played in the US often haven’t provided the U.S. team with any real home-field advantage. While Mexico - and most other soccer-playing nations - have a national stadium, the US does not.
Soccer is our fifth most-popular sport, and the US Soccer Federation faces the reality of needing to monetize their matches, often holding them at venues where the visiting team’s fans end up outnumbering U.S. supporters. In matches against Mexico in places like Los Angeles or Houston, U.S. stadiums have often been less red, white and blue than they’ve been red, white and green. At Azteca - a massive structure some 7,200 feet over sea level - the Mexican National Team has been near invincible.
FH: They had every legal advantage that they could have at that stadium in Mexico.
That’s Frankie Hejduk, formerly of the Columbus Crew and US National Team - he was on the roster for all three of the "Dos a Cero" matches.
FH: You play at - normally it used to be 12 o'clock in the afternoon - it was 105 degrees in front of 90, 100,000 Mexicans. It's the most polluted, in terms of smog, areas in the country, and on top of that it's at altitude.
To counteract Mexico’s advantage at Azteca -and whip up a home field advantage of their own - the US decided to find an equally inhospitable venue for "El Tri," the Mexican team. And so, on a bitterly cold February evening in 2001, the U.S. took them on at Crew Stadium.
FH: The Mexicans did not come out for warm-ups that day. Right then I realized ‘Wow, we have the first psychological advantage against them that we’ve had against them in a long time, playing at home in America.’
It was an advantage that U.S. Soccer took note of. Four years later, the U.S. faced Mexico again, defeating their bitter rivals in front of another strongly pro-American crowd.
FH: We were absolutely just so ready to get out on the field, we had expresso machines in the locker room - everyone’s drinking expresso, just getting as amped and pumped up as we can -- just so we can play and be that much more aggressive for our fans."
For the fans, perhaps the most memorable of the three "dos a cero" matches was the one in February of 2009, which gave the Mexicans a taste of Columbus’s erratic winter weather.
FH: It rained, hailed, sleeted, snowed and was sunny, all within three hours. The Mexicans were baffled, they didn’t know what to do - we came out and crushed them again, 2-0.
Another player who remembers that game well is Michael Bradley. The US midfielder scored both goals in that match, and holds a special place in his heart for Crew Stadium.
MB: We... We have history here, you know? For soccer in our country, that’s not always the case. Soccer is still in its growing stages. For us to walk into a stadium and feel that there’s history, is a special feeling. The people here in Columbus, in this part of the U.S., they love soccer, they love our team, they love supporting the United States. And so, when we come here - when we step out onto this field, there’s an overwhelming feeling of American support.
Weather conditions for tonight’s match are more favorable, but U.S. fans at Crew Stadium won’t be depending on that. Mexico is coming off a shocking defeat by Honduras, a loss that cost their head coach his job. And the U.S. team, which has won 12 of its last 13 matches, is on a roll. So who knows – no matter what the temperature, U.S. fans may leave happy, keeping alive a familiar mantra: dos a cero, dos a cero, dos a cero.