In direct contrast with the wind and rain that met the Dynamo yesterday upon their arrival in Mexico City, the weather could not have been better for the team today in Pachuca, La Bella Airosa.
Blue skies, mild temperatures and a slight breeze were all the team had to deal with as it practiced for the first and only time at Hidalgo Stadium, site of Thursday's CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal series against the Tuzos.
"This is a beautiful stadium. I hope we can get something like this in Houston," said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear.
Just as they did in Houston, Dynamo are hoping to pull out a good result Thursday against Pachuca. Things, however, will not be easy against a team that wants not only to remain in the hunt to repeat as champions of CONCACAF, but also wants revenge.
"This team is very dangerous, since they don't just have one or two players who can score, but five or six," said Kinnear. "We just have to be careful with the way we play and try not to pay attention to outside distractions."
And speaking of distractions, the game is guaranteed to feature a great atmosphere, as admission to the game is free. El Huracán, as Hidalgo Stadium is known, is guaranteed to live true to its nickname with the noise Pachuca fans will make to support their team, which has the moral obligation to come out looking to score from the start.
"We're coming out with an aggressive mentality from the moment we step on the field," said Pachuca forward Damian Alvarez. "We know that we need to score three goals to qualify, but at the same time we also can't lose our heads. We have 90 minutes to make up our disadvantage and we are prepared to leave everything on the field to do it."
Dynamo carried out their normal routine for Wednesday's practice: soft touches to begin with, a light stretching session, an intrasquad game and set pieces were the elements the Men in Orange practiced.
With the team one step away from having at least a guaranteed berth in the Copa Nissan Sudamericana, Kinnear and his team remain focused, knowing that to get there they have to get by a very difficult opponent.
"As we've said before, this is a 180-minute game," said Kinnear. "It's 11 on 11 and anything can happen. In spite of that, we came here to get a good result. We've already done things that have raised eyebrows in this tournament. I don't see why we can't continue to do that with tomorrow's game."
Kickoff is slated for 8:30 p.m. CT. The game between will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Español, and locally on La Norteña, 850 AM and 101.7 FM.
