Why the USMNT-Mexico World Cup qualifier is moving from Columbus to Cincinnati

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

Columbus’ fate was probably sealed the moment Rafa Marquez’s last-gasp header sailed past Brad Guzan and into the U.S. net, giving Mexico their first FIFA World Cup qualifying win in Ohio’s capital – and their first anywhere on American soil since 1972.

This was on Nov. 11, 2016. Until then, Crew Stadium had been a House of horrors for El Tri, the USA’s historic soccer rival. The first big-league stadium in the country built specifically for the planet’s most popular sport when it opened in 1999, Crew Stadium had, improbably, seen four consecutive 2-0, "dos-a-cero" wins for the U.S. men’s national team.

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Then-U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati made it clear that Columbus would keep on hosting the most anticipated home match played by the USMNT every four years — provided of course that the red, white and blue kept its winning streak in C-Bus intact. No need to fix what isn’t broken.

As it turned out, the U.S. was never going to play a sixth-straight qualifier at Crew Stadium. For all its lore and charm, the venue is outdated. Other state-of-the-art options have been opening across the country on a yearly basis thanks to the rapid expansion of Major League Soccer.

And after playing parts of 23 MLS seasons at what is now officially called "Historic Crew Stadium," the Columbus Crew SC left earlier this month and moved into a beautiful new downtown arena, Lower.com Field.

U.S. Soccer could have picked the new place for the next big U.S.-Mexico qualifier, scheduled for Nov. 12. But that 2-1 defeat last time out in Columbus opened the door for other cities that have long been clamoring to stage the highest-profile contest in CONCACAF.

On Wednesday, U.S. Soccer announced the game would take place at FC Cincinnati’s sparkling (and also brand new) TQL Stadium, 100 miles to the southwest.

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"When you talk about great rivalries in our sport, USA-Mexico is one of the best," USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, who led the Crew for five seasons before taking the U.S. job in 2018, said in a statement. "This is a special game that requires a special atmosphere, and we know it’s one that Cincinnati will provide."

Beyond the nod to tradition, keeping the Clasico in Ohio makes sense. The U.S. always enjoyed partisan home support at Crew Stadium — something they don't get in Houston or Los Angeles, which have enormous Mexican-American populations — and that isn’t likely to change in Cincinnati. The Queen City produced huge crowds for FCC even when the club played in the second-tier USL.

The weather should also be cool, which has helped the U.S in the past. The "dos a cero" streak began in early 2001 in a game played in below-freezing temperatures.

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For the USMNT’s mostly Europe-based squad, it’s easier to get to Cincinnati than, say, St. Paul, Minnesota, which opened its own shiny soccer cathedral in 2019. It’s also a slightly shorter flight from there to Kingston, Jamaica, where the Americans will meet the Reggae Boyz in another qualifier four days after facing El Tri.

The decision to play Mexico in Cincinnati comes just a couple of weeks after the USSF picked Nashville for its Sept. 6 home qualifying opener, against Canada. The Americans host five more matches after that, including a pivotal contest against Costa Rica that will actually take place on Oct. 13, a month before the Mexico match.

Last cycle, with Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, packed with Ticos fans, the U.S. lost 2-0, a defeat that, combined with the loss to Mexico in Columbus, went a long way in sealing the Americans' failure to reach a World Cup for the first time in more than three decades. The 2018 cycle marked the first time the USMNT lost two home qualifiers.

U.S. Soccer desperately wants to avoid a repeat, which means Columbus figures to be in the mix for one of the other dates.

"We’re going to need every venue that we play in to have an absolute rocking crowd," Berhalter added during a Zoom call with reporters later Wednesday. "We feel like we made some mistakes in the last World Cup qualifying cycle, particularly in the Costa Rica game, not having a crowd that was 100 percent U.S."

So the Americans’ road to Qatar 2022 still figures to go through central Ohio at some point – whether it’s for that October test against Costa Rica or for another pivotal match in 2022.

One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.