{"id":15965,"date":"2025-12-02T20:58:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T20:58:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:58:23","slug":"azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo&#8217;s Portugal in friendlies in March"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>MEXICO CITY (AP) &#8211; Azteca Stadium will reopen in March when Mexico plays Portugal. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Cristiano Ronaldo<\/span> In the friendly match before that <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">2026 world cup<\/span>The Mexican Football Federation announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The iconic stadium has been closed since May last year. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">renovation<\/span>Five World Cup matches will be held, including the opening game on June 11th.<\/p>\n<p>Aztec, recently renamed <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Banorte Stadium<\/span>will be the first venue in history to host the opening game of the World Cup for the third time. Mexico, which hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, will co-host next summer&#8217;s tournament with the United States and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>The match against Portugal will be played on March 28th. Mexico also announced that a warm-up game against Belgium will be played three days later at Chicago&#8217;s Soldier Field.<\/p>\n<p>After a 2-1 loss to Paraguay in November, coach Javier Aguirre said he wanted to play two games with players from local Central American leagues in January, but the Mexican federation has not yet confirmed that.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/mexico-portugal-belgium-world-cup-cristiano-ronaldo-16abd909f935711ed62af1bffa91f2d7\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MEXICO CITY (AP) &#8211; Azteca Stadium will reopen in March when Mexico plays Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo In the friendly match before that 2026 world cupThe Mexican Football Federation announced on Tuesday. The iconic stadium has been closed since May last year. renovationFive World Cup matches will be held, including the opening game on June 11th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo&#039;s Portugal in friendlies in March - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo&#039;s Portugal in friendlies in March - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MEXICO CITY (AP) &#8211; Azteca Stadium will reopen in March when Mexico plays Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo In the friendly match before that 2026 world cupThe Mexican Football Federation announced on Tuesday. The iconic stadium has been closed since May last year. renovationFive World Cup matches will be held, including the opening game on June 11th.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-02T20:58:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/\",\"name\":\"Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo's Portugal in friendlies in March - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F702F3289180be23ac993f059fbda931e2F0cb485e920cd4c02a25a7e6fc11df9df.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-02T20:58:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F702F3289180be23ac993f059fbda931e2F0cb485e920cd4c02a25a7e6fc11df9df.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F702F3289180be23ac993f059fbda931e2F0cb485e920cd4c02a25a7e6fc11df9df.jpeg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":810},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo&#8217;s Portugal in friendlies in March\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\",\"name\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo's Portugal in friendlies in March - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo's Portugal in friendlies in March - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","og_description":"MEXICO CITY (AP) &#8211; Azteca Stadium will reopen in March when Mexico plays Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo In the friendly match before that 2026 world cupThe Mexican Football Federation announced on Tuesday. The iconic stadium has been closed since May last year. renovationFive World Cup matches will be held, including the opening game on June 11th.","og_url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/","og_site_name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","article_published_time":"2025-12-02T20:58:23+00:00","author":"admin_ok9yktt6","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_ok9yktt6","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/","name":"Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo's Portugal in friendlies in March - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F702F3289180be23ac993f059fbda931e2F0cb485e920cd4c02a25a7e6fc11df9df.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-12-02T20:58:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F702F3289180be23ac993f059fbda931e2F0cb485e920cd4c02a25a7e6fc11df9df.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F702F3289180be23ac993f059fbda931e2F0cb485e920cd4c02a25a7e6fc11df9df.jpeg","width":1440,"height":810},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/azteca-to-resume-play-with-mexico-and-ronaldos-portugal-in-friendlies-in-march\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Azteca to resume play with Mexico and Ronaldo&#8217;s Portugal in friendlies in March"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/","name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","description":"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9","name":"admin_ok9yktt6","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_ok9yktt6"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/eplvip.com"],"url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}