Guillermo Ochoa revealed the reason why he was a wall against USMNT

Mexico National Team couldn’t beat USMNT on Thursday night in Estadio Azteca even if the Stars and Stripes arrived at the game with major absences and Gerardo “Tata” Martino placed the best starting XI in recent games.

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Martino didn’t hold back and decided to finally sit Héctor Moreno and instead started Johan Vásquez, who has been the best Mexican defender for the last season. Although players like Julián Araujo or Israel Reyes didn’t see minutes, Jorge Sánchez proved to be able to erase Christian Pulisic.

But even if some players had a great performance, the one that stood out the most was Guillermo Ochoa, who finally was able to keep a clean sheet for the first time in the last four games played against the Stars and Stripes.

Ochoa has been severely criticized for his recent performances not only with El Tri but also with Club América, as he’s usually involved in mistakes that turn into goals against his team, but at least on Thursday night, he remembered how to be a wall.

Why did Ochoa play like his old self?

There are two reasons for which the Mexican goalkeeper had one of the most outstanding participations of recent years, managing to save El Tri’s goal in at least three clear opportunities that USMNT had even though it was the Aztec squad that had the possession of the ball for most of the game.

The first one is more of a personal reason, as his father was celebrating his birthday and Ochoa wanted to give him a special present. And although the victory would have been better, the scoreless draw keeps El Tri on the mix to earn their ticket to Qatar 2022 this Sunday.

What was the second reason?

The second reason was because of the team that was in front of them, especially since Christian Pulisic mocked Guillermo Ochoa on the last game El Tri faced USMNT, after Ochoa said that the Stars and Stripes see in the mirror El Tri, the team they aspire to be.

After scoring the Dos a Cero for the Americans, Pulisic sent a message to Ochoa: The Man in the Mirror, something that didn’t sit well with the Mexican goalkeeper and decided to prove the Chelsea striker he was not going to score again.

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