Alexis Vega: from replacing ‘Tecatito’ Corona to starring in one of the most emotional scenes in the world

“I feel like a footballer who is about to play the most important thing he has ever played. And I feel that he feels that the chances of being there in the first team are very high, at least that is what he shows us in each training session. He was one of the first who came to train here, with El Piojo ”Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, coach of the Mexican team, said recently about Alexis Vega, 24 years old, number 10, goalscorer for Chivas de Guadalajara.

After the injury of Jesús ‘Tecatito’ Corona, the best Aztec soccer player, striker for Spanish Sevilla, uncertainty set in: who could be able to replace him? Many names were considered. The issue sparked hours and hours of debate on television, radio and social media. But in the midst of the unease, ‘Tata’ Martino, Lionel Messi’s one-time coach at Barcelona, ​​trusted a short, stocky winger who had never gone abroad: Alexis Vega.

If ‘Tecatito’ Corona played for Twente in the Netherlands, Porto in Portugal and Sevilla in Mexico, Vega’s is limited to Toluca and the “sacred flock”. But the ‘Tata’ trusted. And to Vega who, although he scored goals in recent friendlies, was not sure of being on the list until the last moment, he burst into tears in the middle of the anthem before facing the Poles. Who does not? We experienced it four years ago when Contigo Peru was heard in Russia 2018.

The truth is that Vega was most notable amid the yawning of one more game in this World Cup that ends goalless. After a combination between Chucky Lozano and Herrera, Vega had what could have been the winning goal. His header went very close to the opposite goal. The positive: he beat a defender ten centimeters taller than him from above.

The next date Mexico will face Argentina. There’s no margin of error. Saudi Arabia blew all predictions and upset everything in Group C.