The Columbus Crew will play the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final at Estadio Hidalgo in Mexico on Saturday night. Major League Soccer’s representative will face C.F. Pachuaca of Liga MX.
It is going to take place at insane altitude!
Estadio Hidalgo is located in Pachuca, in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. The 277,000-person city sits about 55 miles south of Mexico City at 7,979 feet of elevation. To compare, Denver and Albuquerque sit at elevations of about 5,300 feet.
This Saturday’s match is going to be a significant jump for the Crew…
Columbus is at only 800 feet of elevation.
The CONCACAF Cup Final will take place at 100X that!
With such a daunting change in altitude on the horizon, the Crew is taking drastic measures to prepare. Every player on the team had an altitude tent installed in their homes and has been asked to spend as much time in the shelter as possible.
The tent essentially limits the amount of oxygen available to the body. It allows allows an athlete to acclimate to replicated altitude through normobaric hypoxia exposure by increasing blood oxygen saturation.
In addition to the tents, Columbus athletes are going through their standard training regimen in altitude masks. The masks serve the same purpose as the tents. They force the body to acclimate to a lack of oxygen compared to what it is used to.
The CONCACAF Champions Cup Final will be played in Pachuca which is 8000 feet above sea level (Columbus is 800), quite the home field advantage.
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) May 29, 2024
The Crew are already preparing their bodies, they are sleeping in altitude tents and working out in altitude masks. #Crew96 pic.twitter.com/kxuKV2vOvU
The Crew has had to deal with a big change in elevation before. Just not often. And not to this extreme!
Columbus beat Salt Lake in Utah and Colorado in Denver last year. Both MLS stadiums sit at or more than 4,500 feet above sea level. Pachuca adds an additional half mile to that number.
Saturday’s CONCACAF Champions Cup Final will be played on Saturday night at 9:15 p.m. ET. It is a single leg final so the result is the result. Can the Columbus Crew handle the altitude? We shall see…