Mexican international soccer star, Carlos Vela, once again turned down the prestigious offer of representing Mexico in the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup. The striker who currently plays for La Liga’s Real Sociedad, has not been part of the Mexican National Team since 2011, following an incident with the Federacion Mexicana de Futbol (FMF) which saw him suspended for some months.
During the week, it was mentioned that El Tri’s coach and the rest of Mexican management were to travel through Europe to speak with Mexican stars in European leagues. The first, and arguably the most important stop was to speak and convince Vela to accept the offer to play for Mexico.
Early Monday morning, the FMF published a press release mentioning Vela has been officially cancelled as an option to play for Mexico next June. The reason was the same media and fans have heard for the past year, and that is that Vela does not feel 100% mentally injected. Therefore, the player believes that his presence would only affect Mexico’s aspiration to go deep into the World Cup.
Miguel Herrera did not deny his discomfort with the situation, but he also said that Mexico will go on, and that they would not cry or beg for the player to represent the ‘tricolor’.
Vela no trae la mentalidad que estoy buscando y no lo veo comprometido. No lo tomaré más en cuenta en este proceso, punto final.
— Miguel Herrera (@MiguelHerreraDT) February 3, 2014
Several hours after the report of Vela’s rejection, twitter and all media alike exploded with a majority of fans showing their ingratitude for the Real Sociedad star. It may not be the reason to, but Vela was influenced to post a lengthy letter on his twitter account in which he spoke about the situation.
Aquí les dejo una carta expresando mi sentir sobre el tema de la selección un saludo. https://t.co/6MSa5b3eJy
— carlos vela (@11carlosV) February 3, 2014
In the letter written in Spanish, Vela reaffirms that the first reason he cannot play for Mexico is due to him not being “mentally at 100% to represent or form” part of the team. He then proceeds to mention that in the future he could return to El Tri, but only if he feels prepared for it.
Vela then mentions his gratitude for the Mexican players which had a very nerve-racking and complicated CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers in which they were subject to verbal abuse from the fan base and even media.
By the end of the letter, Vela made the most noteworthy statement by mentioning what possibly could be his greatest reason to not join the Mexican National Team.
He said: “Only 23 players will go on to Brazil. The majority or even all who will assist will be incredibly fortunate. Some of these 23 players have lived, enjoyed, and even suffered from this qualifier therefore it would not be fair from my part that one of these players miss the World Cup in order to make room for me”.
With that comment, Vela is imploring that maybe he does not want to play for Mexico because he does not want to hurt the locker room. Only Vela knows if what he wrote is 100% sincere, but on the bright side he communicated his feelings towards media and fans for the first time since this soap-opera began.
The star ended the message by saying to focus on Mexico’s well-being in the World Cup, and by thanking all the managers that have spoken to him within the last year. With that in mind, it is in all of us to put an end to this saga, and put our focus on a post-Vela Mexican team.
