At the age of 39, he accepted AVS's challenge to continue his career and stay on the national team's radar with a view to the World Cup in 2026, which will also be played in his country and could be the sixth in which he takes part.
In an exclusive interview with Tribalfootball partners Flashscore, the goalkeeper explained the reasons that led him to Portugal and revealed that he had already received offers from FC Porto, Benfica and SC Braga in the past.
He started out as a striker, scored two goals, but spent his whole career doing his best to avoid them. Ochoa made his football debut at an early age with his hometown club, América, but it was always with the Mexico national team that he made a name for himself, so much so that he is now a household name all over the world.
An Olympic medal serves as the highlight of a CV that he himself recognises could have reached another level. Surprisingly, he left Salernitana in Italy for AVS, a team recently promoted to the Portuguese top tier from a small town just 30 minutes from Porto.
In this interview, the Guadalajara-born goalkeeper recalled his first steps as a footballer, spoke about his first few months in Portuguese football and outlined his main goal for the rest of his career: to be at the World Cup in 2026.
At this stage in your career, why Portugal?
"Portugal allows me to continue my career and keep playing, which is what I like to do most in life. It's an important competition, one of the most important in Europe, and this allows me to play at an important level to continue my career and continue playing for Mexico."
We're going to have a World Cup part-hosted in Mexico. Will that be special for you?
"Yes, I've played in five World Cups. It's something very special, a special feeling, something important for a player. Not everyone gets to play in five World Cups, nor has anyone been to six.
"To appear at a sixth World Cup in Mexico would be very special for me; for Mexican football, it would go down in football history, and now, at this stage, only three players can do it: Ronaldo, Messi and me.
"It's not easy as a goalkeeper. They score a lot of goals. It's easier to score goals than to defend. I want to be at the World Cup. We'll see if I can, I know I'm at the end of my career, it's not easy, there are more injuries, more pain, it's normal, that's life. Let's see if I can do it."
It would be the icing on the cake in a glittering career that began 24 years ago when you made my debut with the Olympic team in 2004.
"I started playing professionally at an early age. It happened very quickly. I made my debut in Mexico with Club América when I was 18. Playing at 18 for a club like América isn't easy, it's like a Portuguese goalkeeper at 18 playing for Benfica or Portugal. It's not easy, you need a lot of things to play for a big team.
"I was lucky that my coach, Leo Beenhakker, had a lot of faith in me. I got to the national team quickly (in Athens, 2004) with a coach like Ricardo La Volpe, who knows a lot about football.
"Then, he was also the coach of Mexico, not just the U23s. That was my first experience with the national team, at the Olympic Games. I didn't play a game, but I gained experience."
The striker who was called up in goal
The following year comes the senior national team.
"The senior team, yes. My first game was 19 years ago, a friendly in the United States against Hungary. I played in the second half, and I managed to leave the second half with a clean sheet. I played that game six months before the World Cup, I was having a good season with América and Ricardo La Volpe believed in me and I managed to go to the World Cup as third-choice goalkeeper."
Whilst we're on the subject of the national team - there was a moment that will go down in the history of any athlete's career, when you went to the Olympic Games and won a third-place medal in Tokyo.
"Yes, that memory for me is something that will stay with me forever. As footballers, we don't get many opportunities to play in the Olympic Games. Other athletes, in other sports, can do it many times, but in football it's always under-23 and only three can be older.
"The coach, Jaime Lozano, spoke to me and said he really believed in me, in my experience, to be captain and help the team. I spoke to Tata Martino, he let me go and we got an Olympic medal. We came very close to winning a silver or gold medal, but this bronze medal was important for Mexico. In history, we've only won two: one gold and one bronze.
"At the last Olympic Games, Mexico didn't qualify. It's not easy playing in the Olympics. This medal will always stay in my heart, in my head, in my family's history. As a footballer, it's something you only experience once. I was lucky enough to be in two, I didn't play in one and the one I played in I ended up winning a medal."
You were talking about Club América. Is that your favourite club?
"Yes, from the point of view of my career, América is something very big. It was the team that gave me everything to start my career, gave me this opportunity to play football. I arrived as a child, aged nine or 10, and I started playing at a football school at Club América, where I started as a striker.
"There was only one goalkeeper per team, and there was already one. I arrived a bit late and I could only play as a striker, but I played well. I scored two goals in my first game. Then our goalkeeper got a shoulder injury, the coach asked who wanted to go in goal, I put my hand up, saved a penalty and a month later the other goalkeeper came back and I said, 'Ok, this goalkeeper thing is over and I'll play striker again'. The coach said, 'No, you'll stay in goal, play one game each'.
"There were six games left until the end of the season and then the under-12 team called up and I saw my name on the list. I thought it was for striker, but no, it was goalkeeper. That's how my career began. I believed in it. I saw that the coaches also greatly believed in me, and I started to believe that I could have an important career."
Is Memo a nickname or a diminutive for Guillermo?
"Guillermo. In Mexico, all Guillermos are Memo. For Spaniards, it's easier to say Guille, but in Mexico, it's Memo."
In a certain part of Spain it was 'El Muro de Andalucía'.
"Yes, I'm the first Mexican goalkeeper to play in Europe, who left Mexico on an adventure to learn and get to know a bit. In Europe they have more confidence in Mexican goalkeepers, it's not easy. Playing in Spain was important for me. I grew up watching Hugo Sánchez on television, who played for Real Madrid for many years. In Mexico, La Liga is very important. It's La Liga and the Premier League, they're the most important.
"If a Spanish team calls you, you have to go. A city like Málaga, which is very beautiful, has a beach, good weather, good food, good people and I stayed there for two years. Then I went for a year to Granada, which is very close and also a very beautiful city. I was able to play without a passport in La Liga, I played in Europe for a long time without a passport, which didn't happen very often."
Offers from Benfica, FC Porto and... SC Braga
Moving on to AVS. I've seen players from the Mexican national team here who have travelled through Portugal, like Héctor Herrera. Did you ever speak to anyone who had been here to find out about the country and the league?
"I didn't need to talk to anyone about the Portuguese league because it had already been discussed before. We talked a lot, I watched Liga Portugal matches with players like Herrera, Corona, Diego Reyes, Layun, Raul Jiménez, Omar Govea. Many of them played for FC Porto and when I was at the training centre with them we talked about FC Porto, the quality of life and the game. Everyone spoke highly of it. They said you eat well, you play well, the Portuguese are always around to help.
"When AVS called me in the final days of the market, I realised where Vila das Aves was. My family live in Madrid, they stayed there. Changing everything at this stage was difficult. Even in Italy, I was alone there and that's what you don't see in the life of a footballer. There are many things behind it, many difficult responsibilities and decisions to make. What I saw first was the town. Where is Vila das Aves? I didn't know. It was tiny, close to Porto, the airport, a direct flight to Madrid in 50 minutes, five hours by car. I'm close to my family, close to Spain, Madrid, because after my career I'm going to live in Spain.
"I can continue to play football at a high level like Liga Portugal, which I knew from my colleagues who played here and I knew that the level was good for me and that would allow me to continue in the national team and see how far I can go."
Throughout your career, was this the first time a Portuguese club contacted you or did you have other contacts?
"I've been contacted before. I had calls after the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, from Benfica. Then, in 2018 or 2019, I can't remember, from FC Porto too, when they signed Marchesín from Mexico. He came to FC Porto and I went to América, but I spoke to FC Porto, they preferred to sign Marchesín, there were four goalkeepers on the list. Portugal was always there. I also spoke to SC Braga a few years ago, but we never reached an agreement."
Did what you learnt when you were researching and what you actually found match up to what you had imagined?
"It corresponded a lot. Everyone asked me if I knew Portugal. I said, 'No, it's my first time in Portugal'. I didn't play any friendlies in Portugal, only against the Portuguese national team three times, but not in Portugal. We played in the USA, the Confederations Cup and the World Cup, but not in Portugal.
"Even as a tourist, I didn't know it. When I arrived, I really enjoyed it. I live in Porto, near the beach, it takes me 30 minutes to get here, everyone here in Portugal says it's a long time, but for me, who used to live in Mexico, it's nothing. Thirty minutes on the motorway, with no traffic, no noise, it's nothing. I'm very happy. I miss my family. Sometimes, yes, I miss them. The children are starting to grow up."
Do you realise that this is an absolutely abnormal reality in a town like Vila das Aves? You're a world-famous figure, everyone empathises with you. Do you realise that people see you like that?
"I try not to think about it. If you think like that, you can't achieve more in your career. My career with the clubs wasn't easy, it was hard to write my story. Sometimes people only see the World Cups I've been at, and I'm happy about that, but behind those World Cups there's a story of overcoming, work, growth.
"Life isn't always a straight line. There are hard times when you have to work to get out of that situation to grow and feel free. Sometimes, you get a lot of people who are bad for football. That's my story, getting out of the country, letting people get to know me. In Spain, people take a photo, ask for autographs. If I travel to Italy, Arabia, Japan, people want to take a photo and they recognise me, they also recognise my work.
"That's the most important thing. When I arrived in Portugal, people had a lot of respect for my work, and that's what people in my country sometimes forget."