When Guillermo Ochoa stepped onto the pitch in the 78th minute of Mexico’s match with Czechia on Wednesday night, the stadium let out a roar that seemed to reverberate across the country and beyond.
Clad in a purple jersey and shorts, a misty-eyed Ochoa made the sign of the cross and high-fived a handful of teammates. Edson Álvarez gave him the captain’s armband and then “Memo,” as the legendary goalkeeper is affectionately nicknamed, jogged over to the goal in Estadio Azteca, his signature curls bouncing with him.
Ochoa’s jersey was branded with a commemorative patch marking his sixth World Cup, an exclusive club with just two other members: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. He had already indicated he’d retire after this one.
Ochoa, who turns 41 next month, is hanging up his gloves after six World Cup selections, more than 150 national team games, six CONCACAF Gold Cup titles and an Olympic bronze medal.
“I felt that Memo had to play. For how long? I didn’t know,” Mexico national team coach Javier Aguirre told reporters postmatch. “But I knew it was a night for Mexico to enjoy its legend that is Memo Ochoa.”
And he had his moment: A long goal kick from Ochoa began a play that ended with teammate Álvaro Fidalgo scoring. Mexico, which has never lost a World Cup game on that sacred pitch, won 3-0 in front of a crowd of nearly 81,000.
It was a poetic return to the stadium where Ochoa kicked off his career at Club América as a fresh-faced 19-year-old before he left Mexico for Europe and went on to establish himself as an undisputed starter in front of his national team’s goal.
“Being able to close it out here at Estadio Azteca — with my people, with my family, a World Cup — was the cherry on top,” he told Telemundo Deportes after the final whistle. “I’m happy, I’m grateful, empty — I’ve given it all. I left everything.”
Jesús Martínez, a 35-year-old lifelong Mexico fan who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, watched the match at a bar in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and likened it to “a fairy tale.”
“Everything just played out the right way for Mexico. When the crowd started chanting ‘Memo, Memo,’ you could hear it on the broadcast. People at the bar where I was at, we all started chanting it, as well, and then when he came in everyone was clapping and cheering,” he told NBC News.
“It’s definitely a little sad” to see Ochoa go, Martínez said.
While this is Ochoa’s sixth World Cup, it’s his fourth in action. Ochoa had to watch from the bench in 2006 and 2010, but he finally made his World Cup debut in 2014 in Brazil. And so began the rise of a legend.
Ochoa became synonymous with soccer’s premier international competition after that. Save after improbable save, No. 13 transmuted from mortal to saint — “San Memo” — an icon and a savior to those who worship at the shrine of Mexican football.
For fans like Martínez, Ochoa’s Herculean moments are burned into memory.
There was Ochoa’s heroic save of Poland’s Robert Lewandowski’s penalty kick in the second half during the teams’ opening match in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a game that ended in a draw.
There was the 2014 World Cup when he blocked Neymar’s zooming header with a shocking one-handed save to his right. The game ended 0-0.
And of course, there was the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where Ochoa soared to meet Germany’s Toni Kroos’ free kick that flew to the upper right corner of the net. With a magic touch on the ball, Ochoa sent it up to the crossbar.
“I remember where I was those days, I remember how it felt, how everyone was going crazy watching those games,” Martínez said.
He said Ochoa’s presence added “a sense of security” that Mexico could keep a clean sheet against any team.
“I really think he’ll be remembered alongside Jorge Campos, when people ask who the best Mexican keeper of all times has been,” Martínez said.
Eva Santana, 40, of Chicago, has been supporting “El Tri” as a family tradition since she was a child.
“It doesn’t just feel like the end of a career, it feels like the end of a piece of our childhood,” she said about watching Ochoa’s return to the pitch.
“For others it’s Ronaldo or Messi, but for Mexicans it’s Memo,” Santana said. “He has given fans hope, especially when Mexico was up against the world’s best teams. For many of us, he’ll always be remembered as the goalkeeper who stood tall when Mexico needed him most.”
Posts on Mexico’s national team page of Ochoa are flooded with comments like “Leyenda” (legend), “Capitán por siempre” (forever captain) and “No Memo no party.”
On a post for a raffle to win his jersey, one fan wrote: “Memo, I’ve followed your career since I was just 10 years old … looking back now, I realize I’ve spent more than half my life admiring you.”
His own teammates are among his fans.
Gilberto Mora, Mexico’s 17-year-old starlet attacker, told FIFA earlier this month: “Memo Ochoa is my idol.”
“When I was growing up, I used to watch the national team’s matches, and Memo was always in goal, making saves to keep us in the game. Now being able to play alongside him on the pitch and call him a teammate is a dream come true.”
At the end of Wednesday’s game, Ochoa walked to his right and planted a kiss on the goalpost. He turned, walked to his left and kissed that one, too, a farewell to the structures he stood between over the course of his more than 20 years as a professional.
Ochoa took a knee in front of the goal and crossed himself again. His teammates made their way over and surrounded him, jumping in celebration. Then, they tossed him into the air as the ranchera classic “El Rey” — the king — played around them.
Ochoa will remain with the squad as it proceeds into the knockout stage, though it’s unclear but unlikely that he’ll play again. But if Wednesday night was his last stand, it was more than a triumph — it was a memory to last a lifetime.
“Having the opportunity to close out today with this, in the stadium that saw me be born, that saw me grow, I think it was the perfect ending, the finishing touch, and with the love that the people showed me,” he told Telemundo Deportes. “I’m going to carry this with me as the best moment I’ve ever had with the national team.”
