COLUMBUS, Ohio - United States national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann is hoping that MAPFRE Stadium will once again tilt the scales in favor of the home team when the U.S. takes on chief rival Mexico on Friday to open the final round of World Cup qualifying for Russia 2018.
The Americans have hosted El Tri at the 23,000-seat venue -- formerly called Columbus Crew Stadium -- in qualifying four times since 2001, winning each by an identical 2-0 score line.
"Everyone is excited to be back home in Columbus," Klinsmann said Thursday during his prematch news conference. "It's a special place for us because it gave us so many good results. We want to continue that tradition if possible."
It won't be easy. With attacking stars Giovani Dos Santos, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Carlos Vela on the visitors' current roster, Friday's match could pose the biggest threat to the streak yet.
"We know it's going to be a very difficult game, a very close game," Klinsmann said. "Anything is possible in this game."
The U.S. went 8-0 at home in World Cup qualifying four years ago, with two of those wins coming in Ohio's capital, and 5-0 in the final Hexagonal round, helping the Americans top the CONCACAF region for the third-consecutive quadrennial cycle.
Part of the reason for the hosts dominance against Mexico in Columbus is Mapfre Stadium's capacity, which enables U.S. Soccer to limit ticket sales to its own fans. That was not the case for last year's CONCACAF Cup at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, when roughly 65,000 of the 93,723 in attendance were rooting for Mexico, which won 3-2 in extra time.
"We have a real home-field crowd," Klinsmann said. "We don't have that when we played them last year at the Rose Bowl.
"It means a lot to us to feel like this is our own crowd, they're going to push us, they're going to help us when maybe there's a difficult moment in the game, just to give them energy, to give them drive.
"It's no other way when we go south of the border and face them at Azteca Stadium and you have 90,000 against you."
Still, Klinsmann is wary of the danger El Tri possesses.
"We have a lot of respect for the Mexican team. It's a great team," he said. "It's going to be a very even battle."