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The similarities were ceaseless. They were Latinos who’d landed at La Masia as 13-year-olds. They’d electrified in Barcelona’s esteemed youth ranks. The No10 was their jersey of choice. The hip-shake was their weapon of choice. Ronaldinho had waxed lyrical about both. They were undersized and overtalented, boasting artistic brains under mops of hair.
Alongside Ezequiel Garay, Gabriel Paletta, Pablo Zabaleta, Fernando Gago, Lucas Biglia and Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi had collected the adidas Golden Boot and adidas Golden Ball as Argentina conquered the FIFA U-20 World Cup™ two months earlier. Now the sport was salivating to see Giovani dos Santos’s genius, though nobody gave him a hope of FIFA U-17 World Cup™ glory. Mexico, indeed, had suffered group-stage elimination in five of their previous seven participations, and had never gone past the quarter-finals.
Brazil were the big favourites. They boasted Marcelo, Denilson, Renato Augusto and Anderson, who went on to star for Real Madrid, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester United respectively, and Celsinho, a Ronaldinho-likened mega-prospect. Italy, the Netherlands and reigning European U-19 champions Turkey were all contenders. So, too, were Ghana and Nigeria, both two-time winners of the tournament.
What people didn’t know is that Dos Santos had a secret sidekick – one with whom he would develop an extrasensory understanding. Carlos Vela hailed from Cancun, a utopia renowned for its white-sand beaches, turquoise waters and bustling nightlife, but not for ‘The Beautiful Game’. It didn’t, at the time, even have a professional football club.
Carlos, therefore, began watching videos of Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson and dreaming of playing basketball in the NBA. In 2003, however, Enrique Vela, who earned a pittance as an iron welder, paid his son’s expenses for a trial at Guadalajara. Though at the Chivas academy when the FIFA U-17 World Cup came around two years later, he didn’t even have a professional contract when he flew to Peru. “Everyone was talking about Gio, but no-one knew who Carlos was,” said Mexico coach Jesus Ramirez.
They soon would. In their opener, Vela fused skill and strength to skip past two opponents, rounded the goalkeeper and set Mexico en route to a 2-0 victory. The 16-year-old, with Dos Santos providing incessant ammunition, bagged a brace against Australia and was on target against Costa Rica in the quarter-finals. A Mexico side marshalled by Hector Moreno then rippled Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul’s net four times without reply.
Only one hurdled remained – a skyscraping one. Brazil were coming off four straight victories during which they’d scored 15 goals. “We knew Brazil were the favourites, but we weren’t intimidated at all,” said Vela. “We were determined to play and our game and firmly believed we’d win.”
Just after the half-hour, the ball was thrown into Dos Santos, back to goal. The No10 palatially pirouetted around two Brazilians and produced a devilish delivery into the box. Vela instinctively hurtled himself towards the ball and scored a superb diving header.
It was 2-0 within 15 seconds of the restart. Vela robbed Mauricio of possession from kick-off and spun his man in the lead-up to Omar Esparza brilliantly bashing a bouncing ball home from outside the box. Ever Guzman sealed a 3-0 victory. Mexico had seized their second FIFA crown after Jorge Campos, Claudio Suarez, Rafa Marquez, Cuauhtemoc Blanco stunned Ronaldinho and Brazil in the FIFA Confederations Cup 1999 final.
The climax to Peru 2005 fell on Vela’s father’s birthday. Another present was soon forthcoming for Enrique. Carlos’s performances at the FIFA U-17 World Cup left Guadalajara desperate to sign him to a professional contract. The forward did so on one condition: they relocate his family from Cancun, which had suffered from violent storms, to Jalisco.
“It was an unforgettable time,” recalled Vela, years later. “It’s definitely one of my best memories in football. To not only win the title, but to beat Brazil in the final was magical.”
Ramirez said: “Gio and Carlos were 16, the youngest players in our squad. They liked to joke around but when it came to work, they were really serious. They were very different players, but they had this amazing understanding. They were both outstanding at that World Cup.”
The kid everyone tuned in to see finished as the tournament’s top assister and with the adidas Silver Ball. The one no-one knew about went home with the adidas Golden Boot. Fundamentally, the match made in heaven spurred Mexico to celestial heights.
