MEXICO CITY — Estadio Azteca rises like a concrete-and-steel citadel from the crowded, dusty boulevards of Mexico’s Santa Ursula neighborhood. For more than four decades that fortress has been nearly impenetrable, with the country’s national soccer team losing just two competitive matches inside its walls.
But it felt different during Thursday’s World Cup qualifier with the U.S., a game that ended in a 0-0 tie. Gone was the fearsome, intimidating Azteca, where opponents’ World Cup dreams have long gone to die.
With a late-night kickoff, the sweltering weather that melted past invaders gave way to temperatures in the 60s and a slight breeze. And because of sanctions leveled over Mexican fans’ continued used of an anti-gay chant, more than half of the stadium’s 84,000 seats were vacant, leaving the upper deck mostly empty and quiet.
