Meet Mexico’s Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano, the newest breakout star of the 2018 World Cup

Lozano already has a beautiful goal against Germany and a crucial assist against South Korea

He was played in down the left hand side, and for a moment at least, it appeared he would shoot. Then 22-year-old Hirving Lozano pulled the ball back, across a backtracking Mesut Ozil, and set it up for his right foot. He fired past Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, just touching his glove, and the ball went into the net.

And with that one strike of the ball, Lozano became a hero to his country, scoring the winner in Mexico’s 1-0 win over Germany.

He came in with plenty of hype already. The attacking player, known by his nickname “Chucky,” (what a beautiful, beautiful nickname), has been a revelation for Dutch side PSV over the last few seasons, and the Mexico national team knew that if they were going to make a run in this World Cup, Lozano would need to be a big part of that.

In their first game against Germany, he did more than that.

It was more than just the goal — a goal that nearly gave his coach Juan Carlos Osorio a heart attack and sent Telemundo announcer Andres Cantor into fits of ecstasy — Lozano was the best player on the field for Mexico on the day. Launching counter attacks, maintaining possession, working to defend in midfield, Lozano did it all.

Here were his stats on the day:

That’s not the type of performance you’d expect from a 22-year-old starting in his first World Cup match against the defending world champions in a sold out stadium. That’s not the performance of a player who’s on the verge of stardom. That’s the play of a bona fide star.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise, I suppose. Lozano scored four times in nine qualifiers for Mexico, and this year for PSV, he had 11 goals in 29 starts in the Eredivisie. He can put the ball in the net and he can create.

But man, with those stakes, with that crowd full of Mexico fans full-throatedly singing the national anthem before the game, with the world watching, that’s no easy thing. And Chucky did it.

And he kept on doing it against South Korea in Mexico’s second group stage game.

It was Lozano who assisted on what proved to be the game-winning goal from Chicharito.

Lozano is one of a few young players at this tournament who seemed primed ahead of the World Cup to make a big statement with their play and perhaps get bought up by that big European club. Lozano has gone above and beyond that with his play for Mexico through two games: In two matches that were total team efforts, he has shone.