Sweet dreams my LA ex: Forget Beckham and Zlatan, Carlos Vela is a real MLS legend | OneFootball

Carlos Vela celebrates with his wife

LAFC’s second successive Western Conference triumph felt routine; a composed 2-0 victory over Houston Dynamo ensured that last year’s MLS Cup champions will travel to Colombus on Saturday looking to defend their crown, led – possibly for the last time – by their captain and icon Carlos Vela.

At 34, the Mexican has nothing left to prove to anyone in Los Angeles or MLS in general. Having joined the MLS franchise for its maiden season in January 2018 off the back of seven successful seasons in La Liga with Real Sociedad, Vela has etched his name into US soccer folklore.

His 93 goals and 54 assists in 187 appearances barely do justice to his impact on the league both as a player and a hero for the 37 million Mexicans that call the US home, some two million of whom reside in its second city.

The Cancun native’s arrival marked a departure from the league’s previous strategy of signing expensive and often ageing European imports that varied in impact and legacy, most famously David Beckham but also the likes of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa.

Gone are the days of fading stars looking stateside for one last payday, MLS franchises instead looking for younger, dynamic starlets from Latin America that can be developed in a lower-pressure environment before being sold onto Europe or, like Vela and others such as Seattle’s Raul Ruidiaz and Cincinnati’s Lucho Acosta, even becoming legends in the league itself.

The blueprint has been so successful that even cross-town rivals LA Galaxy copied it successfully, acquiring Vela’s Mexico teammate Javier Hernandez in 2020 and igniting one of the league’s most entertaining rivalries between the two teams, passionately contested and affectionately dubbed ‘El Trafico’ – a nod to the chaos that is part of the city’s fabric.

So what of Vela the player? The Mexican has had to adapt his game with age, morphing from a prolific right winger cutting inside onto his favoured left foot into a more measured number 10/false 9, the freedom to drop deep allowing him a more creative role but demanding less athletic output.

Whilst his goalscoring stats may be suffering as a result (nine goals this season compared to an as-yet unbeaten MLS record 34 in 2019), Vela has learnt new ways to affect the game and create chances for MLS Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga and Uruguay international Cristian Olivera.

Substituted in the 75th minute on Saturday night after a now trademark probing, creative and purposeful display sitting between the lines of midfield and attack, Vela received the acclaim of the LAFC District 9 Ultras and the wider BMO Stadium faithful, united in acknowledgement that it may have been his final game in the black and gold of last year’s MLS champions.

With his contract expiring at the end of December and a fresh one-year deal yet to be offered, the LAFC captain will go into a second successive MLS Cup with his status as a bona fide legend beyond question. If Vela can inspire LAFC to become the first franchise since cross-town rivals Galaxy in 2012 to retain the MLS Cup, the clamour for a new contract will become even louder.