There is perhaps no more defining symbol of Mexican football on a global level than Estadio Azteca. Legends like Hugo Sanchez and Rafael Marquez would make their cases, but in terms of the status it holds in world football history, the stadium, "El Coloso de Santa Ursula," arguably trumps anything El Tri or any individual Mexican player has accomplished on the field.
Pele and Brazil defined a footballing era on the hallowed surface in 1970 and Diego Maradona was sanctified in the stadium in 1986, as he lifted the World Cup for Argentina. The World Cups held in Mexico were arguably the two greatest of all time.
For so long, the 87,000-capacity Estadio Azteca has also been kind to El Tri. Mexico didn't lose an official game in the stadium until 2001 and has only ever lost twice there in World Cup qualification. There have been few fortresses as impenetrable as Estadio Azteca for its home side anywhere.
Those days are, if not definitively over, then on the wane. The last memory Mexico has of playing at Estadio Azteca was back in September, when El Tri couldn't find a way past Honduras' parked bus and ended up drawing 0-0. The team was booed from the field and cries of "Osorio out" rained down from the steep stands.
The booing has been on the increase in general. With only three wins in Mexico's last eights World Cup qualifying games at Estadio Azteca, El Tri is in its worst rut in the stadium in its history. It's commonly accepted that CONCACAF rivals have narrowed the gap on Mexico through greater organization and tactical awareness, yet supporters still demand the same high-scoring victories of yesteryear. Then, there's the persistent goalkeeper chant that has brought the stadium and the Mexican game some negative publicity.
The feeling from opponents these days is that taking points from Mexico at Estadio Azteca isn't as implausible as it once was.
"When we play Mexico, it is not like when Costa Rica took on Mexico 10 or 20 years ago," said Vancouver Whitecaps and Costa Rica defender Kendall Waston in a recent interview with ESPN. "One used to say that Mexico was going to thrash us. I think things have turned around and are becoming more even."
For Friday's match in the renovated Azteca against the Ticos, Mexico has had a change of tact in terms of preparation. The original rumors of moving World Cup qualifiers from Estadio Azteca have not turned out to be true, but Mexico has now accepted that playing at 7,200 feet above sea level damages not only the opposition's physical capacity, but also its own Europe-based players.
With that in mind, coach Juan Carlos Osorio has taken his squad -- made up of 11 Europe-based players -- to prepare for Friday's game in Cuernavaca, only 45 miles south of Estadio Azteca, but at just under 5,000 feet above sea level. The idea is that the team will arrive -- as opponents have done in recent matches -- in Mexico City on the day of the game and the effects of altitude for a starting XI likely to be made up in its majority by Europe-based players will be reduced.
"We analyzed it based on a request from the (Europe-based) players," said Osorio on Sunday. "Scientifically, it is proven that after 72 hours -- three days -- the effects of high altitude are felt more."
Villarreal's Jonathan dos Santos certainly seems enthused by it and perhaps more willing to talk about the issue now that camp has been moved from Mexico City.
"[The altitude in Mexico City] affects us a lot," he told press in Cuernavaca on Tuesday. "We come from outside [of Mexico] and the first training session is hard, I suffocate. It's difficult to breath and it does influence a lot."
"The important thing is that the doctors, the coach and the fitness coach have done things well [by moving camp] so we don't feel it as much," he added.
It wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of previous preparation for games in Mexico City. And now El Tri is training away from its state-of-the-art High Performance Center (CAR) on the southern side of Mexico City, it begs the question of whether the Mexican federation should be seriously considering moving qualifying games around the country to major cities that aren't so elevated.
There is another element to that argument, too. Most Mexicans outside of Mexico City have little access to the national team and much less than Mexico fans in the United States. For example, El Tri has played 150 times in the United States between the turn of the century and the end of 2016 and just 73 times in Mexico. Since the beginning of 2010, the team has had five games in Chicago, seven in Houston, five in the Los Angeles area and four in Phoenix. In Mexico's second and third biggest and most important cities, El Tri has played once in Monterrey (1750 feet above sea level) and once in Guadalajara (5,100 feet above sea level). And those cities possess Mexico's two most modern stadiums.
The conversation about El Tri perhaps leaving the Azteca seems to have seriously begun, sparked by the decision to up camp to Cuernavaca. The momentum will only accelerate should Mexico trip up against Costa Rica, meaning El Tri needs that win on Friday not just to further advance chances of World Cup qualifying, but also to reignite a rocky relationship with the Azteca and its crowd.
Tom Marshall covers Liga MX and the Mexican national team for ESPN FC. Twitter: @MexicoWorldCup.