MOSCOW _ Carlos Vela's relationship with the World Cup is complicated. Over the last eight years it's included three starts, a tournament-ending injury, a long self-imposed exile and Sunday, after his most important game on soccer's biggest stage, a death in the family.
A day after Vela helped key Mexico's upset of defending champion Germany, he got news that his grandfather had passed away. But in his final hours, Vela was told, his grandfather had watched Mexico's 1-0 win, which led to a touching message on Instragram.
"The last victory you were able to see, grandpa," Vela wrote in Spanish. "I hope you were proud of me."
How could he not have been?
Positioned in the center of the midfield, Vela quarterbacked Mexico's potent counterattack, giving Germany fits before leaving in the 58th minute for defender Edson Alvarez.
"He was one of our best players today," Mexican coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. "Carlos was the one who made the last pass for the shots we had, for the chances in the final third. He made a very big effort."
Osorio, who has made no secret of the fact he would prefer his players stay in Europe, couldn't have been pleased when Vela left Spanish club Real Sociedad for the expansion Los Angeles Football Club in January. But he has played well in MLS, leading LAFC with seven goals and contributing five assists while playing every minute of the team's first 12 games.
"When a player is doing well mentally and is happy, then it shows on the field," Vela said in Spanish. "When someone feels pressured or isn't happy, then things don't tend to go the way they should. Mentally and physically, I feel very well and I'm eager to perform at my highest level."
In 2010, as a precocious 21-year-old, Vela started Mexico's first two games in South Africa but came off with an injury a half hour into the second one and didn't play again. Then two months after the tournament ended, he began a self-imposed three-year self-exile from the national team, refusing call-ups for the 2012 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup.
The hiatus has never been fully explained but it started after Vela attended a team party that got out of control. Thirteen players were fined but only Vela and Efrain Juarez were suspended from the national team.
He wouldn't play again for Mexico until a friendly in November 2014. Now a more mature Vela isn't taking this World Cup for granted.
"Obviously after Brazil, when I wasn't there, and South Africa, where I wasn't able to enjoy the World Cup as I would have liked, it makes me want to enjoy this one as much as possible and help my country achieve something important," he said. "That's the goal that Carlos Vela has and I hope I can achieve it."
Given his contribution against Germany, he already has.
