Among world football's great theatres, the Estadio Azteca might be the most majestic stage of all.
Sat squat in the south of Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis bubbling atop a high-altitude valley surrounded by mountains, the Azteca is where the colour, noise and energy of football truly come to life, and where the game's most glorious kings have been crowned.
Pele and his third World Cup win. Maradona and his goal of the century. The ultimate moments in the careers of two men lauded in every corner of the globe, both bound by the same setting - the Azteca.
Now, for the first time since being eliminated from the 1986 World Cup by Maradona's Argentina, England are entering the enormous stadium again.
What awaits them is utterly unique.
Sat squat in the south of Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis bubbling atop a high-altitude valley surrounded by mountains, the Azteca is where the colour, noise and energy of football truly come to life, and where the game's most glorious kings have been crowned.
Pele and his third World Cup win. Maradona and his goal of the century. The ultimate moments in the careers of two men lauded in every corner of the globe, both bound by the same setting - the Azteca.
Now, for the first time since being eliminated from the 1986 World Cup by Maradona's Argentina, England are entering the enormous stadium again.
What awaits them is utterly unique.
4 months ago
