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By Chris Cowles

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, June 28 (Reuters) - Matches at the Azteca Stadium between the United States and Mexico have traditionally gone one way, but a high-flying U.S. team might change that.

Although it remains too early to determine a true change of power in the CONCACAF region, one thing, against all expectations, is for certain: the Americans are on the verge of qualifying for their fourth-consecutive World Cup finals while Mexico is in turmoil.

The arch-rivals meet at midday Sunday at the renowned Azteca in what has been tabbed "revancha" or "revenge match" as the second half of the final round of qualification begins. It also serves as the return following Mexico's 2-0 defeat it suffered in Ohio in a game billed as "La Guerra Fria" or "the cold war" in February.

Much has transpired since that frigid night in Columbus when the U.S. took its first qualification victory against Mexico in 20 years.

The Americans are atop the six-nation CONCACAF group with 13 points from five games while Mexico is fifth on five points, four behind of third-place Honduras. The top three nations qualify for the finals.

"We approach this match like any other," said U.S. coach Bruce Arena. "We're going to go into it with confidence. We're meeting an opponent that has its back to the wall, but we have to play on the road so we want to stick to our game plan and look to take some points."

Cavernous Ground
The Americans have been hard-pressed to scratch out any positive results when playing at the cavernous ground that hosted the championship games of 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals.

The venue, with a capacity of about 115,000 and located nearly 2,400 metres above sea level in smog-choked Mexico City, is known as one of the toughest places to play as a visiting team.

In all competitions dating to 1937, the Americans have gone 0-1-16 at the Azteca while holding 0-1-9 mark in qualifiers. Mexico is an impressive 44-5-1 in all qualifiers there and has outscored its opponents 186-24. The lone loss was a shock 2-1, defeat to Costa Rica on June 16.

The Americans enter the fixture knowing that a victory is not vital, but content to take a point to keep the momentum and nine-match unbeaten run in qualification intact where they have outscored their opponents, 19-1.

"To expect us to win (at Azteca Stadium) is a bold statement," Arena said, "but we think we have a chance to be successful, whether that means taking one or three points."

The U.S., wich leaves its south Florida training camp on a Saturday morning flight to Mexico City, takes a relatively unchanged team from its past two matches, a 2-0 victory against Trinidad and Tobago and a 0-0 draw with Jamaica. Mexico, under newly appointed coach Javier Aguirre, should see a number of changes.

Aguirre, who took over following Enrique Meza's resignation after Mexico's 3-1 loss at Honduras on June 20, led Pachuca to the Mexican League title in 2000 and has demanded total commitment from his players.

Dropped from the Mexican team were goalkeeper Jorge Campos and forward Luis Hernandez, the country's all-time leading scorer, while midfielder Alberto Garcia Aspe was recalled after being off the team for more than a year.

Oswaldo Sanchez is expected to start in goal with Claudio Suarez, the world's leading cap holder with 161 appearances, anchoring the defence. Jared Borgetti is favoured to start at forward with Francisco Palencia or Daniel Osorno.

The 34-year-old Garcia Aspe, who will marshal the Mexican midfield, reportedly told his teammates that the most important thing was beating the U.S. however they can, "pulling, hitting, anyway possible, as long as we win. Anything we can do to obtain that victory."

12th Man
Aguirre has guaranteed that every player on the roster will give 110 per-cent for the fans or will be shown the door. He also appealed to the fans to be the "12th man" and fill the Azteca.

The crowd was not a factor at the Azteca lately as only 30,000 turned out for the loss to Costa Rica.

NAC Breda player Earnie Stewart will direct the midfield and captain the team in place of Glasgow Rangers midfielder Claudio Reyna who is serving a one-match suspension.

Stewart became the U.S.'s all-time leading scorer in qualifying after hitting his seventh goal in the win against Trinidad.

Also not on the American roster is midfielder John O'Brien and Brad Friedel. O'Brien reportedly had commitments to his club side Ajax and Friedel, who recently got married, requested some time off before Blackburn Rovers returned to training in July.

Cobi Jones is a strong candidate to fill the open midfield slot while Arena has a number of options at forward with Jovan Kirovski and Ante Razov who impressed against Trinidad and Brian McBride and Joe-Max Moore who started against Jamaica, but are not completely match fit.