Mexico, Iceland set to play soccer match at Sam Boyd Stadium

El Tri is coming to Sin City.

The Mexican men’s national soccer team will play its first ever match in Las Vegas when it faces Iceland at Sam Boyd Stadium on Feb. 8.

It’s the first stop on Mexico’s 15th annual U.S. Tour. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday and can be purchased on UNLVtickets.com. or La Bonita Supermakets.

“Soccer is the world’s game and Las Vegas is the world’s city, so I can’t think of a better match for this event,” Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman said. “Having the Mexican National Team in Las Vegas is very exciting, and of course we all watched Iceland’s amazing run in Euro 2016 play. This should be a competitive match that I’m sure fans will enjoy.”

The match will serve as an important opportunity for both national teams to fine-tune lineups ahead of critical FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Mexico, which is No. 17 in the FIFA rankings, will use the Vegas event as preparation for CONCACAF qualifying games against Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago in March.

Iceland, currently ranked 21st in the world by FIFA, is coming off a cinderella quarterfinal finish in the 2016 UEFA European Championship. The team with the popular viking chant will look to shore-up its squad before facing Kosovo as part of UEFA World Cup qualifying in March.

Mexico often draws big crowds when playing in the United States. Giovani dos Santos, Andres Guardado and the rest of the Mexican squad faces the U.S. Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow @gmanzano24 on Twitter.