Carlos Vela: We’ll grasp golden chance

Battle stations: Mexico striker Carlos Vela (left) holds off South Africa’s Aaron Mokoena in the opening match at the World Cup
10 April 2012

Carlos Vela has dubbed his team-mates the "golden generation" of Mexican football and claims they have the right mix to overcome France in Polokwane tonight.

Both sides drew their opening matches and victory at the Peter Mokaba Stadium would be a huge step towards qualifying for the knockout stages.

Mexico have never beaten Les Blues in six previous meetings — the latest of which resulted in a 1-0 friendly defeat in Paris four years ago — but the Arsenal forward is confident his side can overcome the odds to leave France on the brink of elimination.

"We want to get through the group and that won't be easy," he said. "We need to acclimatise to the conditions because that will be important.

"I really want to stress that we are the golden generation of Mexican football. Having seen the France versus Uruguay match, I believe Mexico has a great chance of advancing.

"France are one of the best teams in the world and we are going to have to work very hard to beat them. But we have got a lot of confidence in our own ability and we have a chance.

"There is no fear. We have got a good side and good blend of experience and youth. Younger players are learning all the time, others have been to World Cups before and that's the most important thing. We have players who like going forward and we are tight at the back so we can do well."

Chelsea winger Florent Malouda is set to be recalled to France's starting line-up after patching up his row with coach Raymond Domenech.

Despite the spat, captain Patrice Evra claims there is no disharmony in the dressing room. "We are a strong team, confident in one another and not scared of anyone," said the Manchester United full-back.

"I can assure you that this France team will remain closely-knit right until the end."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in