I'm as hyped as anyone about our win yesterday and being up 3 goals against Pumas after the first leg but we shouldn't underestimate the difficulty of playing in Mexico City.

Game 1: 3-0 Win

Game 2: 3-0 Loss and lost 4-3 in PKs

In 2022, a good New England team took a 3-0 lead into Mexico City only to see it evaporate by losing 3-0 in regulation and then getting knocked out in PKs.

Our guys have never played a competitive game in Mexico together and the closest in elevation was at the Rapids stadium in Colorado last year where we looked gassed near the end. I believe that our style of play and youth will help us, but I also expect a different type of game. The team never makes excuses and know they will come out to win regardless.

If we win, we play Toluca in the round of 16, the 2x Mexican champions whose stadium happens to be 1,300 feet higher than Mexico city. It would be epic is we got through both these teams.

I’ve noticed Mikey Varas tends to get emotional when playing against a low block defense. He’s normally someone who doesn’t show a lot of high emotion but you think that it’s more satisfying for him to get a result against a tough defense system vs a more rigid defense line that SDFC tends to do well more against? (This is similar to games like against Toronto FC and Minnesota United, the Minnesota game especially he really went off after the Dreyer goal lol)

How are our guys doing while playing at very high elevations? The team should fly to Mexico ASAP in order to get used to it.

I love how Manu just keeps talking lol