MIAMI, Florida – For the third time in their respective coaching careers, Mexico’s Gerardo Martino and Gregg Berhalter of the United States will square off against each other at the international level in the Final of the 2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals on Sunday night at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado.

For both coaches, the opportunity to be part of this historic rivalry, which encompasses 70 matches dating back to 1934, is as special as it gets.

“The most important thing is what it represents for Mexico to face the United States. It is always a momentum affair, from any kind of friendly to this kind of final or World Cup qualifier. Any kind of encounter with the United States requires a special characteristic,” said Martino in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.

“It means a lot, it’s history. It’s the fiercest regional rivalry that there is and any time we play them we know exactly what this means. We know everything that comes along with it and we’re just excited to get to do it again for a trophy,” said Berhalter to Concacaf.com.

Martino is no stranger to coaching in some of world football’s biggest rivalries. Martino has been involved in the great ‘Clasico Rosarino’ of Argentine football between Newell’s Old Boys and Rosario Central, Spain’s ‘El Clasico’ as a manager of Barcelona against Real Madrid and the storied South American rivalry as head coach of Argentina versus Brazil.

Martino had success in those matches and hopes history repeats itself on Sunday in winning a second Final against the U.S.

“I had a chance to experience it in the last Gold Cup, I’ll do it again on Sunday and with the same illusion as always, with the drive to play a good match and with the desire to be able to win,” said Martino.

In his career as a player, Berhalter faced Mexico five times, including one of the most memorable match-ups in the history of the rivalry when the U.S. defeated Mexico 2-0 in the Round of 16 of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Yet the match that has left an indelible image on the U.S. coach was the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup semifinal when Mexico edged their neighbors to the north.

“I’ve been a part of a bunch of USA-Mexico games and the one that I’m still upset about is in the Confederations Cup in 1999. We played in the semifinal and we lost on a golden goal in extra time in the Azteca. We had chances to score and that was a game I felt we were in position to win and unfortunately we didn’t go through,” concluded Berhalter.