{"id":3071,"date":"2026-03-11T21:14:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=3071"},"modified":"2026-03-11T21:14:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:14:52","slug":"after-malagon-injury-could-mexico-call-ochoa-back-for-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=3071","title":{"rendered":"After Malag\u00f3n Injury, Could Mexico Call Ochoa Back For World Cup?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>An injury to a key player for Mexico could open the door for an <i>El Tri<\/i> legend to return for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Club \u00c1merica goalkeeper Luis \u00c1ngel Malag\u00f3n went down with an apparent Achilles injury while playing against MLS club Philadelphia Union in Concacaf Champions Cup action on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Malag\u00f3n has been the top option for Mexico&#8217;s national team in the run-up to this summer&#8217;s World Cup. The country will host the 48-team tournament alongside Canada and the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>&#8220;Probably an Achilles tendon injury, hopefully not a complete tear, but probably at least a partial rupture, which will keep him from playing for some time,&#8221; Club America coach Andr\u00e9 Jardin\u00e9 said after the 1-0 victory over the Union.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>That injury could put Malagon&#8217;s hopes of playing at the World Cup at serious risk. If so, Mexico manager Javier Aguirre could go with Chivas goalkeeper Ra\u00fal &#8220;Tala&#8221; Rangel or Santos Laguna keeper Carlos Acevedo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>It could also open up a spot for <i>El Tri <\/i>legend Guillermo Ochoa, who is currently playing in Cyrpus for AEL Limassol. At 40 years old, Ochoa has appeared at five World Cup editions (one of only five players to do so) and could therefore become the first men&#8217;s player to compete in six tournaments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>In all, Memo has made 152 appearances for the senior national team (third on the podium behind Andr\u00e9s Guardado with 182 and Claudio Su\u00e1rez with 177). He last appeared for the national team at the 2025 World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Mexico has two friendlies in March against Belgium and Portugal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6><strong>Mexico&#8217;s World Cup Group Stage Schedule:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY An injury to a key player for Mexico could open the door for an El Tri legend to return for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Club \u00c1merica goalkeeper Luis \u00c1ngel Malag\u00f3n went down with an apparent Achilles injury while playing against MLS club Philadelphia Union in Concacaf Champions Cup action on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}