SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Mexico returns to Levi's Stadium on Friday to take on Iceland in El Tri's first game in the stadium since that devastating 7-0 defeat to Chile in the 2016 Copa America Centenario.
Not many in the immediate aftermath of that game -- which Javier Hernandez said "hurt Mexico's soul" -- would've predicted that coach Juan Carlos Osorio would still be on Mexico's managerial hot seat three months ahead of Russia 2018. And it is testament to both the manager and this group of players that the squad faces Iceland on Friday with confidence restored and ambition not just in tact but perhaps even enhanced.
"My honest answer is that I'm glad that [the 7-0 loss] happened, because I learned a lot from that loss," Osorio said at Thursday's news conference. "I don't know if the next time around we will be able to reverse the score, but we will certainly be prepared to stop the damage.
"It happened, that's life," he added. "I still believe the best benefit from [the] catastrophe or accident was the learning experience because I did learn a lot from it."
The mood in the Mexico camp is certainly optimistic, with striker Raul Jimenez supporting a statement made by Hernandez on Wednesday that El Tri can go far in the World Cup.
"To achieve big things, you have to aim for big objectives," said Jimenez. "Here we believe we have a great base of players, all the people in the federation are working well. And speaking as a team we are all on the same page, all working and thinking about big things like being world champions because, as I said, we believe in our capacity and qualities to be able to do it."
Mexico may be thinking big, but tiny Iceland represents a genuine test for El Tri. Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is without playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson, but he said Thursday that he'll play his strongest team.
"They play a different style than the teams we are used to playing in Europe," Hallgrimsson said on Thursday. "It's more Individual style, skills and speed. We haven't played teams from outside Europe with the regular squad for six years probably, so it will be a good test because we'll play a team from Africa and South America in Russia."
For Iceland, this game will be a test run for its World Cup opener against Argentina, while Mexico sees similarities between Iceland's direct style and organized, deep-lying defense and that of Sweden, one if its Group F rivals in Russia.
Word from the camp and in Mexican media is that the match against Iceland will be used as an opportunity to give some fringe players a chance -- perhaps their last -- to shine ahead of the World Cup.
Mexico's Europe-based legion had long trips to get to California, and reports suggest Osorio will prefer to save some of them for next Tuesday's game against Croatia in Dallas, which the manager has said will provide a test not too dissimilar from Germany in Mexico's opening World Cup game. Osorio confirmed that Hector Herrera and Andres Guardado will be out of the Iceland game with unspecified injuries.
The likes of Omar Govea, Jonathan Gonzalez, Oswaldo Alanis, Jesus Molina, Jorge "Burrito" Hernandez and Rodolfo Pizarro all are on the fringes of plans for Russia 2018 and will be hoping for minutes against Iceland.
Osorio will be looking to field a side that is also strong in the air, as he did against the United States and Trinidad & Tobago in qualifying. That means the prospect of Molina and/or Diego Reyes playing as the holding midfielder is real; Carlos Salcedo or Edson Alvarez will be the options at right-back and Jimenez may be prioritized up front due partially to his ability to defend set pieces -- one of Iceland's strengths.
"If we don't have a team that is good in the air, then we are going to suffer," said Osorio.
A win is no guarantee for El Tri. Iceland hasn't become FIFA's 18th-ranked team for nothing, and has the quality and organization to make the game very tough.
While Mexico will never truly bury the ghost of the 7-0 result against Chile, a good performance and win on Friday would at least provide a sense that the stadium is not cursed. The most important thing, however, is that Osorio is able to extract some positive conclusions in the first real game of 2018 as El Tri builds for the World Cup.