The Ochoa Case: Why It Doesn’t Matter as Much as You Might Think Who Starts in Goal For Mexico

The year is 2026, and Mexico is taking the pitch at the newly-renovated Estadio Azteca in their home opener for the joint US-Canada-Mexico World Cup. Leading El Tri out of the tunnel and bearing the captain’s armband is none other than Francisco Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa at 40 years of age and roughly a month out from his 41st birthday. He is about to become the first player ever to participate in six World Cups, a testament to his longevity. There are rumblings from quite a few sources in the media and a healthy amount of public debate on whether or not he deserves to be in the squad, let alone start and be the captain, but there is one view shared by all sides of the argument: it is absurd that a country with Mexico’s size, resources, and passion for soccer is incapable of producing even two or three other goalkeepers good enough to win his spot from him at this stage of his career.

The year is 2023, and Mexico is taking the pitch at the still-unrenovated Estadio Azteca in their home opener for the CONCACAF Nations League. Leading El Tri out of the tunnel and bearing the captain’s armband is none other than Francisco Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa at 37 years of age and roughly three months out from his 38th birthday. He is about to become the first player ever to participate in six World Cups, a testament to his longevity. There are rumblings from quite a few sources in the media and a healthy amount of public debate on whether or not he deserves the chance to be in the squad, let alone start and be the captain, but but there is one view shared by all sides of the argument: it is absurd that a country with Mexico’s size, resources, and passion for soccer is incapable of producing even two or three other goalkeepers good enough to win his spot from him at this stage of his career.

This is hardly a new debate; Ochoa’s starting role was already in question in the leadup to Qatar 2022 thanks to an underwhelming period playing for América in Liga MX and his age. While he played fairly well at the tournament and is currently a key player for struggling Italian Serie A team Salernitana, the World Cup is still years away and Ochoa is now at an age where any kind of physical setback or major decline will be nearly impossible to bounce back from. If there are already so many doubts and concerns surrounding his future, how is he still considered Mexico’s best goalkeeper by some distance? The discourse surrounding Ochoa is just one part of a larger conversation about phasing a certain contingent of players out of the team; that, in turn, is just one part of a larger conversation surrounding the state of the national team and its governing bodies.

Ochoa is one of the oft-criticized vacas sagradas of Mexico’s national team, that group of veterans past their prime who have major name recognition even among casual supporters and draw in advertising money and ticket sales in cash-grab friendlies played in NFL stadiums across the United States. There is a constant clamor from the press and fans alike for them to be dropped and for a younger, hungrier, yet unproven generation to receive the chance to demonstrate what they can do on the international stage, with the underperforming veterans taking the blame for most of the team’s shortcomings; it does not matter if it is fair or warranted, even if it quite often is. In any case, after Mexico’s disappointing yet not entirely unpredictable group stage exit in Qatar 2022 with many of these veterans in the twilight of their respective international careers, there has been a call for a recambio generacional, a renewal of the squad with a new group of players forming the base. Ochoa being one of the most renowned members of the old guard makes him a frequent target of criticism and discussion.

Looking more closely at the goalkeeper situation, it is evident that there is a lack of depth and talent in that position in Mexico. Ochoa, though still great, is no longer the player he was eight or even four years ago, and he has always had weaknesses in his game that are endemic to Mexican goalkeepers and he does not have time on his side at 37 years of age. While Ochoa has excellent reflexes and is a solid shot-stopper, he lacks a strong aerial game and a general willingness to come off his line more often. He is not particularly bad with the ball at his feet, but he is also not quite as comfortable with it as the average modern keeper. Although he can be counted on to make saves, he often fails to hold on to the ball and instead tends to bat it away into what are often dangerous areas or back to the opposition. He can also be a liability on set-pieces by not being able to consistently claim crosses or corners; he also needs a quick-thinking defense and ideally a team that sits somewhat deeper to minimize the effect of returning saved shots into dangerous positions. He is not a bad player by any means, and his experience and talent speak for themselves. However, he is a product of an era where goalkeepers could still play at a high level with a more limited set of skills, which is why deficiencies like the aforementioned issues with set pieces and crosses are more egregious as time passes.

Why, then, is it that his main competition for the starting spot, 26-year-old Carlos Acevedo, can be described as Ochoa with less experience and slightly worse shot-stopping abilities? Acevedo is also a solid player and certainly draws attention with his long hair and flashy, acrobatic saves, but is clearly a cut below Ochoa and is also old enough that it is unlikely that he will grow much as a player in the coming years. The answer is that, unfortunately, player development in Mexico is years behind where a country with its resources and infrastructure should be, and the present lack of talented Mexican goalkeepers who can play a more modern style exemplifies this problem and how its effects can be seen at the highest level of play.

Coaching, scouting, and player recruitment at the grassroots and youth levels in Mexico are impeded by nepotism and other unfair practices as well as an unwillingness to change thanks to a lack of pressure from authority figures. It is far from unheard of for youngsters to be given a chance to join an academy over others thanks to connections or money, and while this happens all over the world to some extent, Mexico is notorious for this. At the top, FMF (Federación Mexicana de Fútbol, Mexican soccer’s governing body) is a revolving door of the same handful of greedy executives and directors or people connected to them. So long as the same handful of aging stars turn up to packed stadiums for friendlies across the United States and help them secure lucrative advertising contracts, there will be no incentive for them to push for change at lower levels.

As for coaching itself, the difference in standards for training in Mexico and Europe is immense. Players making the transition from Liga MX to the other side of the Atlantic often face a rough adjustment period thanks to a lack of emphasis on proper physical development and tactical understanding. Liga MX, while entertaining to watch, also feels noticeably slower-paced than top leagues with players having far more time on the ball and teams generally playing and pressing with less intensity. In Russia 2018, Juan Carlos Osorio’s Mexico faced fitness issues in most matches. The tactics and planning were sensible but it was clear that many of the players were unable to maintain the energy to see games out and were outmuscled by more physical opposition such as Sweden. The best solution to this disparity in coaching quality is to send more players to Europe and for them to leave at younger ages and for lower transfer fees, but that is a separate topic and is complicated by another series of factors.

The failure to make it past the group stage in Qatar 2022 sparked public outrage and cries for drastic changes, but the truth is that by waiting long enough to make changes and not meaningfully altering anything, FMF managed to weather the storm and emerge more or less unscathed. In any case, three and a half years is far from enough time to really implement any major changes to player development and recruitment practices that would yield significant results. If FMF was serious about preparing for this potentially-historic event, they would have overhauled things in the same way the United States did over a decade ago; however, short-term planning and an unwillingness to take risks on a potentially more successful project have severely limited the chances of that taking place.

With this context, it becomes clear that fixing just one or two problems and calling it a day means leaving the root cause unaddressed and creating more headaches down the line. Of course, that does not mean that the problem does not need to be resolved. In this case, deciding to start or bench Ochoa and declaring that Mexico’s goalkeeper situation has been sorted out would be a mistake. The symptom will be treated, but the real illness will remain and cause complications when he retires and the lack of depth in the player pool caused by poor training and recruitment processes becomes obvious. Of course, a generational talent could always break through at any time and paper over the cracks, but that would only cause further laziness by making the issue appear resolved.

Taking that logic one step further, the idea that a changing of the guard is the magic key to success is similarly misguided despite also being a necessary change. The aging core of the squad needing to be replaced is far from the only issue Mexico faces on the path to constructing a more competitive national team. There needs to be change from the ground up, starting with player recruitment by academies and training processes. Until Mexico is able to provide a more consistent pipeline from youth levels to professional teams and prepare players more adequately to compete at the highest levels, the quality of the squad will never increase in a meaningful way and the team will continue to perform at roughly the same level — or a lower one, if standards fall further behind the rest of the world.

With all these underlying issues, how have figures like Ochoa and others come to take the lion’s share of the blame for the team’s perceived underperformance and the overall state of Mexican soccer? The main reason is that it is far easier to blame a scapegoat or a handful of scapegoats to make it seem as if Mexico or whichever big club is struggling at any given moment is just a quick handful of decisions away from becoming a top team. Soccer media in Mexico, particularly at the most visible levels with talk shows like Fútbol Picante and La Última Palabra, often relies on hot takes, cheap controversy, easily-digestible soundbites, jumping on new trends without a second thought, and allowing club allegiances shape perspectives all for the sake of increased viewership rather than serious journalism and analysis. While this is not a uniquely Mexican phenomenon by any means, it is more prominent than in many other countries and is a massive distraction from the deeper issues at hand.

With all this said, should Mexico fans resign themselves to another disappointing cycle and give up all hope for a deep run in 2026? Absolutely not. It is still too early to tell how things will play out, and there is still some time left for the player pool to develop and improve. However, the best way to prepare the team for 2026 would have been to overhaul coaching and player development processes years ago and work with clubs to incentivize sending players to Europe more frequently and at younger ages, among other things. A refusal to prepare for the long term could once again be the culprit behind another underwhelming World Cup performance for Mexico, a nation with the potential to achieve so much more.