Should Mexican Legend Guillermo 'Memo' Ochoa Start For Mexico? Fans Are Divided
If you want to find strong opinions about El Tri, just head to the local pitch on a Saturday morning and look for the guys in the Mexican club team jerseys
There are just three players in history who have represented their country at six FIFA Men’s World Cups, and they will all be playing at this summer’s tournament: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Guillermo ‘Memo’ Ochoa.
That’s right — arguably the two greatest soccer players of all time, and a goalie who has never played for a top European club, and who most recently played professional soccer in Cyprus.
But make no mistake, Ochoa is a living legend here in Mexico. Despite his obvious shortcomings, of which there are many (size, athleticism, skill with the ball at his feet, a tendency for dramatic errors in club team matches), he has risen to the occasion time and time again at the World Cup, including a laughably unbreakable performance in a 0-0 draw against the host nation Brazil at the 2014 World Cup — arguably his magnum opus.
It’s the kind of career that has inspired murals of Ochoa alongside living legends like Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, and Mbappe.
Or, as Ricardo Beltran, a fan of El Tri from Cabo San Lucas put it, “He’s a good goalie with the national team, a bad goalie in leagues. In the World Cup he always plays very well, but in leagues he’s the most scored-on goalie.”
A few months ago, Ochoa seemed to be on the outside looking in at the 2026 World Cup. Luis Malagón, a 29-year-old goalie with Club America, was the projected starter, and a handful of up-and-comers were vying for the backup positions. But a ruptured achilles tendon took Malagón out of the running, and created an opening for Ochoa. Since then, the veteran goalkeeper has apparently endeared himself to head coach Javier Aguirre, and recent reports in the Mexican press suggest Ochoa is likely to start for El Tri in the opening World Cup match against South Africa on June 11th.
Fans in Mexico are divided on whether or not that should be the case. Beltran, who acknowledges that Ochoa is a living legend, doesn’t think he should play.
“I don’t think he deserves to start in this World Cup,” he says.
Delfino Perez, a fan of El Tri who was finishing up a workout at a local soccer field, had even stronger feelings.
“I think Memo Ochoa was a player in past times,” he says. “Football is modernizing, it’s not just for people who are old and outdated. He had his time and now he has to give the opportunity to others who are coming up.”
But there’s an argument to be made for experience and leadership, especially considering the magnitude of the stage. Mexico’s first game is in the Azteca stadium (I refuse to call it by its newest corporate name or its FIFA World Cup name), and the atmosphere will be electric. It will be viewed by hundreds of millions of people, if not billions of people, around the world.
Would you trust 26-year-old goalkeeper Raúl “Tala” Rangel, who has 14 caps and zero World Cup experience, to play in that match?
Or Carlos Acevedo, who has spent his entire club career with relative minnow Santos Laguna, which just finished dead last in Liga MX?
It’s understandable why some fans feel quite differently from Beltran and Perez.
Armando Garcia, a supporter of Club America and the Mexican national team, says he hopes Ochoa sees the field.
“In the World Cup he has been one of the best goalies,” he says. “I would like it if he played in the opening match and beyond.”
Garcia’s friend, Erik Ruín, agrees.
“He’s a great man, a great goalkeeper,” Ruín says. “I would like to see him play one last time in the World Cup.”