Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa: “Messi has that magic”

By
Roy Nemer
-
186

Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa spoke about having to play against Argentina and Lionel Messi at the World Cup.

Guillermo Ochoa will be the goalkeeper that Argentina have to beat on Saturday in their second group game. Mexico drew 0-0 in their opening game at the World Cup and are on one point. Talking about playing against Lionel Messi and the Argentina national team, here is what he had to say:

“Messi has that magic, he can be doing nothing and from one minute to the next, he can solve it and score a goal. It will be a beautiful and difficult challenge. We are ready to compete and to show our faces.

“I don’t like the “hey, I don’t want to play against someone because it’s very difficult” or “I want to avoid this team because it’s very complicated”. No, I think that the opposite. I want to play against them at a World Cup. I want to play a good match against them. We want to beat them.”

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186 Comments

    • If he is out its a big loss but Tite can manage without him . Their bench strength is very deep and even without Neymar they are quite strong. But not sure how it will affect the squad psychologically. In 1998 and 2014 once their star player was injured they were mentally defeated.

  2. This Brazil squad is too strong for this tournament. Perfectly picked on form players. They didn’t ignore their English Premier League stars, unlike Argentina. Whereas Argentina’s coach got some allergy to English Premier League.

      • How many times are you gonna repeat the same nonsense? Jesus you’re exhausting. He didn’t pick Garnacho because the kid has not played a single minute under Scaloni but Almada has and he did well. Simple as that. What does MLS have to do with politics? If Scalonu really disliked Garnacho, the kid would have never made his preliminary list.. give it a rest kid. Just be quiet and support the team like the rest of us fans

  3. I saw a lot of choker signs in this Brazil performance: Neymar overall, Raphinha and Vinicious horrible misses.Richarlison will be nowhere against a good defence, he is mediocre. Pezzella put him into his pocket. Definitely wont win the WC. They believe it so badly again imo BRA could collapse when things will go wrong in a match like in 14.

    • Come on now Kid, you know we need his fire in the semi and final. He’s the joker and winning card we should save to when it matters the most.

    • Almada is better than Vinicious or Pedri or Garnacho. Only the scouts of RM, Barcelona and Man Utd are idiots not to buy him. Scaloni knows Almada is very good like pavon or meza, that is why he was picked.

    • Unlike Scaloni, Tite is not going to waste his firepower on the bench. Our coach persisted with players out of gas in Dimaria, Messi, Lautaro after we were 2 down and had Dybala and Correa on the bench as spectators. I wonder if you are not going to unleash Dybala when you need an equalizer when are you planning on using Dybala? When we lead by 4-0 ???

      • @SulaV Dybala doesn’t have cable or laptop to watch the world cup from home, so he was brought to Qatar to watch the games live.

  8. Brazil win is good to fuel the fire for us. Sometimes when your rival does well; it kinda ignites u to do better.

    The second half of Brazil look strong. My best hope to stop them before they meet Argentina is Spain in the quarter final who for sure will be the group winner.

    News update: Ney injured!

  9. Yellow Bananas are fcuking dominating in the second half!! My head is about to explode thinking about the two unacceptable goals we conceded!! What was Scaloni thinking with that kind of formation and approach? He was still under the impression Saudi match was a another friendly??? He was outwitted by Saudi coach. No point in crying about the VAR when your team concede those kind of goals!!Everytime we exit it has been our coach’s stupid decisions. FUCKKKK!!!

  10. Shaan89

    i didn t say anything about your football opinion or WC 2022 opinion. i agree or not agree i respect everybody and you will not find any post from me saying anything about anybody s loyalty or insult him about football opinion. i respond only about the specific sentence which was just 1 insult outside football opinion. “Argentinean family brought a tattoo and frosted hair carnival”.

    • @cox4 It’s very obvious he is a troll or may be a varzillian fan.
      I think it’s better to ignore than wasting time with this trolls.
      Believe me, you won’t see them after the World cup.

    • @cox4 in that case I apologise for asking what wrong? I respect every opinion, if that is logical. I am frustrated as we are throwing away a glorious opportunity. Moreover, everywhere is Var-Zil supporters are making noises as we lost and they are winning. This is a difficult time for us…

    • True but there are only two teams stood out: Brazil and Spain. These two will advance in this tournament due to their strength, age factor, bench depth, player profiles, and mostly brilliant and mature coaches with winning mentality.

  14. Latest News from the training camp.
    1. Montiel and Molina rotate in each half
    2. Acuna and Tagliafico also rotate
    3. Cuti and Licha rotate too
    4. Enzo started in the place of Papu
    5. Paredes started but later MacAllister replaced him
    6. When MacAllister played replacing Paredes, Enzo moved to 5 and MacAllister played the left midfielder.

  16. That full backs alax Sandro and Danilo looks vulnerable and Serbia unfortunately didn’t have that sharpness in attack. Defense is looking vulnerable I can feel it. The goal is smelling for Serbia. Slow down the match. It’s the only way for Serbia to get into the match and score.

    • Fantastic four is super hard to master. PSG last year tried it but failed with Mbappe, Messi, Ney, Di Maria. Because if you can’t master it, you would end up being very predictable.

      Glad Brazil have yet to master this. Sabella master this tactic in 2012-2024. The key was counter attack. Our fantastic four was deadly in the counter. Brazil today is so so in counter attack although all 4 are fast players. Spain look more deadly so far.

      Btw please Serbia hold them to 0-0 at least. I really want Brazil to finish second in the group.

    • No threat? You gotta be kidding me. I mean you can be extremely bias but how on earth not seeing Brazil was camping in the Serbian penalty area?

      • Brazil believe it badly again, like in 2006, 2010, 14 LOL and in 18, always were the biggest favourite by bookies and failed. This will happen against the first top european team again.

  20. All teams brought great physicality and grit to the world cup. Argentinean family brought a tattoo and frosted hair carnival.

  21. Brazilian players are super fast. Most of their players in their prime. They really have a promising squad. Regardless of this game result, I can see them go far in this tournament.

  22. So in this fantastic four set up, Ney played Messi role, the false 9 and is not required to defend. Te other 3: Richarlison (mid), Vini (left) and Raphinha (right) helped the defense.

  24. When some people in here, including myself, were saying that something is really wrong, other were telling us to stop talking conspirancy nonsense. Well, all i see up to now is selective use of VAR (how can they justify that?) and even wrong calls from VAR when it is used like the non existent offside with us and the top of it, they are underestimate our intelligence by trying to convince us the opposite from what we are seeing! Corruption has reached a level beyond any sanity with the signature of “new technology” and VAR just in front of our face!

    I know that we were far from our good self against Saudi Arabia but still, as many have stated here, this is a wc and every detail counts therefore getting robbed a goal is enough to change the outcome of a game sometimes.
    I have also said that it is very suspicious that both Argentina and Germany are struggling, i hope this is not a set up of a new 2002 wc.

    Finally, a question to you all: I am watching football quite many years and i don’t remember a single time, just once, Brazil getting robbed by a referee call. If you remember just one please remind me.

    There is no any other team such dirty as the yellow team, i really wish Serbia upsets them, not only because i hate the yellow team but also because i like people from Serbia!

    I will celebrate with every chance the yellow corrupted thieves get burnt and crashed!

  26. I hope at least VAR checked Portugal goals. The penalty was a clear tackle then a minimal contact and CR dived a big. Never ever a penalty, 90% NOT 10% YES before VAR era, the problem that VAR neirly never change the referees penalty decisions. 2nd and 3rd Portugal goal didnt seem offside for me, but why didnt show these idiots the VAR infographics?

    • Yes sir he practiced normally today just like others.

      Gastón Edul

      @gastonedul
      ·
      1 hr
      Leo Messi se entrenó a la par. Hizo una parte de kinesiología más temprano por la misma molestia en el sóleo que tuvo antes del partido vs Arabia. Va a ser titular el sábado. Ningún jugador con una lesión significativa puede jugar 180’ en 6 días.
      Esta foto es de hoy.

  28. I think Messi is the key to win matches for Argentina. If he plays his usual stuff, then all the questions about the lack of speed of the team will never come into the picture. Along with him, we need one more player in the centre to play one-touch passes and carry the ball forward confidently in the absence of Lo Celso. I think it is the right time to bring Dybala into the picture. We may have to remove Lautaro to do so. Also, Julian in place of Papu may be a better option. Change from the same predictable formation is sometimes required. Whatever the team line-up, the team should play with good spirit. I hope we will get good results from now onward.

  29. @el_principle,

    I don’t think this brazilian fanta 4 is comparable to setup to the past. But it is brave from Tite who is usually very conservative.

    For example, in 2002 Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho was supported in 3-5-2 setup with great wingbacks. Defensive and midfield solidity was there.

    This setup is similar to the one Brazil had in second half in Copa final. After subbing Lo Celso, it was easier to defend them while Casemiro was all alone to defend counters. We almost had a second if not for Messi’s slip.

    Only Paqueta helping Casemiro wont’t be enough against good sides.

    Their issue remains the same. They don’t have any passer – distributor in the mid. And bad wingbacks.

    • Yeah the fantastic four only works against weaker teams. That tactic would be exposed badly against a very good counter attack team. But Brazil think fantastic four is their trademark tactic. Let they think that way because they seem to be the only nation, other than Argentina 2014, who dare to play that way among all the giants.

    • I think Brazil trying fantastic four tactic because they feel if they play with 3 forwards only where Ney is always the left forward, Vini is too good to be benched. He is one of the best players of Madrid, he can’t be benched. That’s why Tite trying to create a tactic so Ney and Vini will both play.

      It is a bit similar to what Sabella thought in 2012-2013, the first year he implemented the fantastic four. He could not choose who to bench among the fantastic Messi, Di Maria, Higuain, or Aguero so he just used all of them because that year Ancelotti used Di Maria as MCL (Lo Celso position today) and he was super deadly there.

      That tactic will take years to master. I doubt Brazil have enough time to practice this. Let’s see. Plus Ney and Vini both are not known to have good work rate defensively.

  30. Looks like Messi is carrying an injury from the UAE game based on reports. This makes Scaloni’s team selection all the more baffling for the first game.

    Fielding an injured player along with four 34 plus year olds, around four players who did not look match fit and changing the formation in the last minute showed showed that he grossly underestimated Saudi.

    Our team lost steam after half time because of fitness issues. Considering this, why he did not use the last sub also surprised me.

  31. I haven’t watched Portugal vs Ghana but the VAR check is being selectively used which means the game is not being played in the right spirit. My suspicion is that some of these referees were being bought or have a lineance towards certain teams from the beginning.

    This is a disgrace…If I were in that starting xl of Argentina, I would be extra-motivated against anyone that’s not Argentine on the field every millisecond, all game long. Your blood would boil watching stuff like this similar to that Copa’19 game vs Brazil. Blatant corruption!

  33. Var doesn’t work with Portugal. I said about this that it is not a conspiracy theory but a conspiracy. Dirty money is everywhere in your life, you just don’t realize it. Believe it or not is up to you.

  35. Asian or ahalam mahalm referees are a joke!! How that penalty didn’t reach the VAR room?!!!! Both field goals from Portugal must be checked!! At leas 3rd one was offside

  36. Same will happen with Brazil game. No VAR check. It’s selective and this tournament is rigged. Saudi got 2 goals, they were clean. But they would have kept it close.

    I am not sure what is the goal here but this tournament is a set up.

    • No, being repeatedly called offside for stuff that’s the other way around would have allowed the team to settle (2-0 by then) but instead wrong calls made everyone question what’s going on. Unfortunately, Romero of all people was having a stinker along with Tagliafico with Messi and De Paul not playing well either. The game was over and we need to lift our heads-up and just win every game from here on.

    • And wait? Who is this fantastic? Lautaro is greater than that arrogant Richarlison. Messi is more than Neymar. Di Maria is greater than raphinha. Dybala looks greater than Anthony. Only they keep up is that left wing. Vinicius.

      • Fantastic four means playing 4 forwards/wingers at the same time. The same thing as 2014 where we had: Di Maria, Messi, Aguero, Higuain. It is a lethal tactic if they master it.

        Brazil won the WC once with the fantastic four of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaka.

        • Kaka was only a sub. Brazil wont play with this four against a favourite. With this fantastic 4 tactic they failed in 2006 Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Adriano

          • Yeah in 1998 they also played the fantastic four tactic and they reached the final. They were Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Bebeto, and Leonardo. 3 forward and one AM. They are the original creator of the fantastic four tactic and it looks like they get back to that tactic again this year in 2022. Let’s see if that’s their main tactic or just a back up tactic.

            Yeah for 3 WC in a row they played fantastic four: 1998, 2002, and 2006.

            They think fantastic four is their trademark tactic the same as Dutch with total futbol or Italian with catenaccio or Spain with tiki taka.

      • Maybe worse than their usual standard, but defence is still not bad. They have militao on the bench. Just they don’t have rich inventory of wrong backs they historically produce.

  40. Brazil’s formation looks like a 5-5 or 4-1-4 without any central midfielder. It is highly imbalanced and not sure how this will play out.

    • Can we please stop criticize other high performing teams? At least Brazil will never let Saudi Arabia to conquer their play even if the entire Brazilian team enter the pitch drunk.

    • It looked at least one of Portugal goal was from offside. Most shocking was the linesman running with Ronaldo all the way to the goal line only to raise the flag after the Ghana goal keeper made the save!!

    • Ghana don’t have that much money to bribe unlike the Saudis. That’s the truth. It is too obvious what happened between Argentina and Saudi was because of huge money involved.

  51. Lots of talks on coach, player selection, Messi dependency. Suddenly all is bad with just one loss?

    We have our best possible selection and the best possible preparation for this WC. I don’t see anyone outside this 26 squad who deserves a place. You just can’t bring in someone after couple of good performances. What made Arg formidable was team chemistry, not individual quality. It takes a long time to build chemistry and you don’t want to change status quo unless someone is way too good. It’s not club football that you train everyday with the group and start performing right away when break into first eleven. Even Messi took a year to gel into PSG. That’s why Dani alves, Cavani, Suarez, Maguire, busquests, Ronaldo are still in their national team. Our whole midfield seemed a bit out of touch against KSA. But what alternatives do we have?

    Other thing made Arg stand out were solid defense and intense pressing. Both were missing in last game. Not getting any yellow card when you are losing against the weakest team is telling enough that we lacked tenacity and seriousness.

    I think what went wrong was all psychological. We are better team than we were during Copa. We got Enzo, Lisandro and Julian in last one year. Messi, Dybala, Tagliafico, and Mac Alister had a better year. Our only loss is Lo Celso, but honestly,in last 3 years, others easily replaced his absence in previous years.

    I still believe if we can bring our mind and acts together, we are a serious contender for championship.

    • Anyway let them finish second of the group and meet Brazil (or vice versa: Brazil finish second and meet them). They look flat but I think Portugal is one of those teams that is extremely hard to score on. If they meet Brazil, I wouldn’t be surprised if it would go to PK shootout.

  58. I still think the biggest mistake we are making is not giving Palacios a chance for LoCelso’s spot. This player destroyed Mexico last time we played. I just don’t understand why he is the forgotten man. What has he done to fall behind MacAllister Papu Enzo and even Julian for that spot. This is pure stupidity.

    • Scaloni sees the players based on their current form I think. In his eyes Licha, Julian, and Enzo are the most in form ones. I think Palacios doesn’t deserve to be the last in midfield pecking order I agree, but Scaloni thinks the ones in form deserve more minutes. The good thing is one of them is Enzo. I think this dude is special.

      Palacios needs to be out of Leverkusen if he is to get more attention from Scaloni.

  60. The Portugal team is looking very good. They are also carrying Ronaldo, who has zero contribution in team play. He has already missed couple of good chances. But the other 10 are very very good.

    Coming to our team, we reached our peak in Copa 2021. There were some players who needed to be refreshed. We didn’t do it. Now we are suffering at the biggest stage. Even if we win against Mexico or go out of the group, we will get crushed by France.

    I go forward with that mentality and whatever additional happens is bonus.

    I can just Messi walking around in second half with his head dropped.

    • Scaloni is not Sampaoli that he will go high line full attacking mode. France may be scored 4 but Australia could have score atleast couple more had they been more clinical. Also if we manage to win both match and make to the knockouts I don’t see any team easily beating us. Scaloni will go with his ultra defensive mode agasint stronger teams.
      And Ghana is comfortably dealing with Portugal so far. They might lose but it won’t be easy for Portugal. Hopefully it ties or Ghana wins!

    • I couldn’t disagree more. These weak comments come from weak minded positions – how do we deal with adversity? Why does a challenge instantly equal utter defeat?

      “We reached our peak at the 2021 copa” lol how did you come to this conclusion, what metrics were used to decide this? People please calm down or find another team to bring the mufa to

  61. Once we are sitting comfortable with 2 goals cushion then Messi should let Dybala play for the last 15 mins. We need Leo to not only get injured but have adequate rest. He , Dimaria and Lautaro all three out of gas at around 75 min which is why we couldn’t press Saudi as we should have. Dybala, Alvarez, Correa these three should replace our front three for the last 15 plus mins. Again, as I have stated multiple times the first priority should be keeping tight in the back. No conceding early goals, may be that is why Montiel might be started. He will stay back and only venture forward if three is clear cut opportunity to attack. If we concede no goals we will win.

  62. Man all Atletico Madrid players in the World Cup perform really bad so far in the WC. Now Felix playing like crap. Yesterday Molina and De Paul. Simeone is really a career destroyer.

    • When you are rotating the core team every match and nobody knows who will play or how long they will play, it was bound to happen. DePaul and Molina’s poor form is really hitting us hard. Also DePaul’s tendency to look for just Messi and Dimaria is not bringing that uncertainty factor. Hopefully Scaloni has gone over all the negatives and is working on correcting them.

    • Yes, very high priced tickets are not sold out for some teams especially small teams. Meanwhile no tickets available for teams like Argentina. Also, some seats are like Pavilion, while seeing from far, you will think nobody is there (You cannot see their legs or body), it will look like empty seat. I was in stadium for USA match.

      Qatar already sold more tickets than Russia WC. A new record.

    • I have been wondering the same. I spent hours online to get one ticket. Everything was sold out. Now I see hundreds and thousands of seats empty. Very strange. I was ready to pay any price.

  66. I know the chances are slim but watching Brazil and Portugal struggle lose or tie would be NICE but then again you never know.
    I just don’t want to hear and see how great they played today later on as the day goes on.

  67. Gastón Edul

    @gastonedul
    ·
    3 mins
    Argentina se entrena en tres horas. Se perfilan tres cambios en el equipo. 2 en defensa y 1 en el mediocampo. Argentina va a volver al 4-3-3. Se suma un volante.

    Argentina to make 3 changes. 2 in defense and 1 in midfield. That’s perfect not too many changes.

    1 in midfield is heavily rumored to be Enzo instead of Papu.

    2 in defense according to TYC is 2 of:
    Montiel-Molina
    Acuna-Tagli
    Licha-Cuti

    2 of these.

    If all of these are true, then it is the safest possible changes. Not risky at all, not too many, still relying pretty much on his “17 starters” plus a new one: Enzo. Hope it is real.

      • Yeah this is fine. I am against more than 2 changes in midfield. It won’t be wise using 2 new midfielders in a decisive match like this. One is enough. Hope it is Enzo though.

        In full backs Acuna deserves to start but usually when he starts, his partner is the more defensive minded Montiel not Molina to make it balanced. As for Cuti, I still hope he starts. His record is too good for him not to start. I hope the 2 changes in defense will be Acuna and Montiel.

  68. My 11..armani
    Molina…. Romero/martinez….otaa…Acuna
    De maria…de paul..pardes.. Enzo /mac/palacios
    Messiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…Lautaro
    If romero not fit 100% then Martinez
    Just run and press with basic

  69. Though saudi Arabia blow my confidence but i hope we will win easily against Mexico. If we win that means we come back and thats mean lion is back with full energy for his target.

  70. Completely opposite to our attitude.. we always saying the opposition is difficult. Whoever it is they are difficult. Maradona had the attitude that they were the best. Not this generation of Argentines

    • Maradona was a savage competitively. Everyone feared his wrath and they knew how bad life would be if they didn’t give 1000 percent. Nowadays, our players want to win more for Messi than for themselves. This is the absolute wrong attitude. You should want to win for your country first, then for yourself. A guy like Maradona, once every 100 years. This is what makes him the greatest of all time.

  71. Memo has the right attitude and is a great player. We need to find that Maradona-like spirit inside and bring the game to Mexico. We can’t be lazy defensively, or shaky in our passes/decision making. We need structured team movement to get the best out of a free flowing Messi

    • When you start believing all the compliments that’s when you are as screwed as can be. You are only as good as your last game in this competition. The NT needs to concentrate on the game, not on social media.

  73. What I don’t understand is even when healthy, we have a resistance to play our best young players. For example, there is no convincing me that Licha and Cuti should play together instead we play Otamendi. Medina is better than Tagliafico. This is for sure. Palacios is better than Papu, and really ADM should be coming off the bench for a spark, maybe for Dybala or Julian. Enzo should replace both Paredes and Guido. The older players can close out a game or score a goal when their legs are fresh. This is a cultural problem in Argentina football that we rely too often on players that are way past their prime. You don’t see Sergio Ramos on Spain because he’s past his prime. Yet we line up guys like Papu. When Nico and Palacios play, first they have speed and pace. Second they have height. Unless your short guys are legendary like Messi or Iniesta or Xavi, they get shut down most of the time. That’s why guys like Soule, Carboni brothers, Nico Paz, and Garnacho are so important for the future. Little guys are great for a 20-25 minute spell but they are easy to control in general. Always there are exceptions but these are the rules in modern football.

    • Although ultimately I do agree with some of these observations, it comes down to an experience thing. I will say, Tag has received a lot of hate on this board since the game, imo he was one of the best players on the pitch.

      • I don’t think it’s an issue of hate. I think it’s an issue of hero worship. Let me give you a strange example. In American football, the NFL, one of the greatest teams ever was the 1985 Chicago Bears. The team has been utter shit for nearly 37 years and hasn’t won anything. The city still celebrates this as it was yesterday. When you look at Argentina football, we are still celebrating guys from 30
        years ago! We just don’t know when it’s time to turn the page. I love Messi, but if you win, your team has to succeed. The first two years of the Scaloni era, Messi was an afterthought and the team was young, dynamic and confident. At that moment they worked in Messi into the scheme. Over the past 12 months, the team has become overly reliant on Messi and DiMaria again, and that formula will not work. This is not Messi’s fault or ADM. This is the coaching staff becoming complacent because of the huge win streak. We had this with Bielsa also if you remember that team was fantastic and failed to move past the group stage. This win streak may prove against us because we haven’t played from behind or under pressure for a very long time.

        • This is true. Although it has worked in our favor for several months, I think what’s thrown us off more than anything was the tactical change for the KSA game which threw not only our game off, but our confidence. I hate to admit it, but confidence is a shaky topic – we’ve seen many weak minded players; including Messi.

          I agree though, over reliance on Messi has given us nothing but sadness in the past.

          • all of our players look to Messi for leadership. This is a disease in Argentina. Messi for all his greatness is not a great leader. That is why he hardly wore the captains armband in Barca. Maradona also knew this that’s why the first thing he said was Mascherano plus 10. Alpha dogs know who the other Alpha dogs are. Unfairly to Messi , he has been thrust into a leadership role. This is not his fault, and nobody is perfect.

          • “When you look at Argentina football, we are still celebrating guys from 30 years ago”

            You are right the absurd Maradona (mostly liar) myth is the worse thing what could happen with argentine football. Toxic. And you do the exact same.

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