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TORONTO – “Menos 15,” Auro’s agent-turned-translator, Bruno Serafin, told Toronto FC’s newest player following Saturday’s training.

“Ow!” the Brazilian responded with a look of surprised horror on his face.

“I’ve never played at that temperature,” Auro told the Sun in his first interview since arriving in Toronto.

Has anyone in MLS history? Maybe not.

Temperatures in Denver Tuesday night could plummet to -17 C (1 F), making it, perhaps, the coldest fixture between two MLS sides since the league’s inception two decades ago.

The Reds open the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals Tuesday night in Colorado, where game time (10 P.M. ET) temperatures are forecast to be -12 C (10 F).

“In France you get frozen fields and they start to become dangerous,” Vanney told the Sun ahead of the club’s scheduled Sunday departure. “You’re essentially playing on concrete. That’s where it potentially becomes an issue … The field can get dangerous.”

Auro’s not alone. Temperatures this low have rarely, if ever, been felt in MLS or CONCACAF, a confederation almost entirely comprised of warm-weather nations. Toronto FC’s top brass lamented to the Sun this weekend CONCACAF doesn’t have a protocol for winter extremes.