Costa Rica's national men's soccer team play Mexico in World Cup qualifying Saturday night at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium in what could prove to be a deciding match for both.

Mexico's El Tricolor historically has far outplayed La Selección – 21 wins to five Tico wins, with 13 draws in 39 matches – and outscored them by a nearly 3 to 1 margin. In its history of World Cup qualifying, Mexico have only lost one game at home in the massive 100,000-seat Azteca, according to the international soccer federation FIFA.

The one team to have bested them? Costa Rica, in 2001, in a game now known as the Aztecazo (meaning “big Azteca event”) when, thanks to a late goal from Hernán Medford, the Tico side beat El Tri 2-1, on the road to the 2002 world finals in South Korea and Japan.

Neither team is guaranteed the win, but if there is an opportunity for a second Aztecazo, tomorrow night is a ripe one for La Sele.

Head Coach Rodrigo Kenton earlier this week told Swiss soccer news Web site Goal.com that Mexico shows a “lack of humility” in its attitude toward Central American opponents. “They always underestimate teams from Central America,” he told the site after spending the prior week deflecting insinuations from local press about tensions between the squads.

“Mexico is a strong team,” striker Bryan Ruiz told the daily Al Día. “We have to be smart; it's not impossible to win (in Mexico ).

Moreover, as Mexican Captain Rafael Marquez told the global federation's Web site FIFA.com this week, El Tri's play has been “stagnating” of late.

The team has remained winless in its last four qualifiers, including three shutout losses, only squeezing past Jamaica in the previous qualifying round on goal differential.

Meanwhile, La Sele is unbeaten in World Cup qualifying this time around, having won nine of its last 10 games, yet, besides a trio of wins against El Salvador and Honduras, the team has played fairly undemanding opponents. The Ticos racked up 22 goals in its last seven games, while Mexico scored nine.

Both squads will be without their captains, Tico midfielder Walter Centeno and Mexico's center back Rafael Marquez, who are both ineligible to play after accumulating yellow cards and a red, respectively, in previous matches. Marquez will also not be able to attend the match as his club, FC Barcelona, will not release him for travel.

President Oscar Arias, who will be in town to discuss economic relations, plans to attend the game alongside Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Casa Presidencial has confirmed.

See this week's print or digital edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.