Carlos Vela wanted to return to Mexico National Team, but Guillermo Ochoa prevented it

Even if Carlos Vela hadn’t played a single game with Mexico National Team after El Tri were eliminated in the round of 16 in Russia 2018, his announcement several weeks ago about his decision of retiring for El Tri shocked everyone.

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Not only because he did it amidst a wave of rumors placing him on Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s roster for the last CONCACAF Qualifiers match window, but also because “Cracklitos” is still playing at a high level, and he’s only 32 years old.

Then, a few days later, Vela showed that he still has the level to be playing in any European club if he wanted to, as he scored a hat-trick on the opening game of the 2022 MLS Season on the game against Colorado Rapids.

People didn’t understand why if he’s one of the best active Mexican players, he didn’t push more to be taken in consideration by Gerardo Martino for El Tri’s roster, but the reason has little to do with the Argentine coach and more with Guillermo Ochoa.

Why does Guillermo Ochoa is involved?

Is widely known that the Mexico National Team starter goalkeeper is one of the leaders of El Tri in the locker room, so much that he’s become a coach on the pitch, given he’s one of the most experienced players on Martino’s roster.

But is that same leadership he has the one that’s made players like Vela disappear from El Tri’s radar, something that happened in the current World Cup cycle, as Ochoa knew having Vela in the Aztec squad so close to the World Cup would only spark old confrontations.

Prizes for arriving in the World Cup

According to sports journalist Rubén Rodríguez, inside El Tri’s locker room there’s already some issues regarding the prizes the players will get for achieving the goal of having their ticket to Qatar 2022, even though they haven’t done it yet.

A similar problem happened last World Cup, with the difference that Vela was one of the main figures opposing the distribution of such prizes, with Ochoa being one of the most benefitted players, which is why Las Águilas goalkeeper intervened to prevent the return of the LAFC striker.

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