MIAMI, Florida – There are still four full months before the close of 2021, but it has already been a year to remember for Mexico MF Alexis Vega, who scored the first goal for his country in Thursday’s 2-1 win over Jamaica to open the Final Round of Concacaf World Cup Qualifying for Qatar 2022.
The Chivas man started off the year with a bang, leading Mexico to a first-place finish at the 2020 Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship in Guadalajara.
Vega appeared in all five of Mexico’s matches, starting four, scoring a goal and contributing two assists to help El Tricolor qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Vega also converted the decisive penalty kick that gave Mexico a 5-4 penalty shootout win over Honduras in the Final. For his superb performance throughout the tournament, Vega was named the winner of the 2020 CMOQ Golden Ball.
The 23-year-old then carried that excellent form into the Tokyo Olympics beginning in July, with three goals and an assist across six matches as El Tricolor won the Bronze Medal, which was Mexico’s second medal-winning performance in the last three Olympics.
Vega was a stellar performer, scoring in Mexico’s two group stage wins over France (4-1) and South Africa (3-0), before adding his third goal in the Bronze Medal Match win over Japan (3-1).
Vega entered the Final Round of Concacaf WCQ with just eight senior team caps under his belt, but onlookers would have never known that he was playing in his first WCQ on Thursday night.
The Guadalajara man completed 32 of 37 passes against Jamaica and registered four shots on the night, including his well-taken goal in the 50th minute for Mexico’s opening strike.
When an attempted clearance from the Jamaican defense took a slight deflection, Vega had the instinct to be at the right place and at the right time and dutifully pounced on the loose ball, taking a few touches and launching a shot that beat Jamaica star GK Andre Blake.
Vega’s goal helped Mexico become the only team to secure a victory and three points in the first matchday of the Final Round, and by the way he has played in 2021, Mexico can expect many more contributions to come from Vega before the end of the year.
