Ricardo Antonio LaVolpe, with vast experience as a strategist in Liga MX and with the Mexican national team at the World Cup level, assured in a conversation with La Opinion that Memo Ochoa's physical conditions They're no longer ready to play in a World Cup, and at the same time, he advised improving Luis Malagon.

Interviewed to analyze the current state of the Mexican national team, led by Javier Aguirre, with six months to go before the ball rolls in Mexico's opening match of the 2026 World Cup against South Africa, LaVolpe addressed the issue of who should be the Tricolor's goalkeepers for this competition.

Would you take Memo Ochoa as the third-choice goalkeeper?

I don't think he has what it takes. No, I would take him because if it's a matter of team dynamics, that's the only way to explain why they might take him, but to actually play, to be the starter, no, no. I think at that age you start to lack reflexes, reaction time.

Besides, I don't have to say it, look how hard it is for him to find a team, and I don't see thousands of teams, right?

As a goalkeeper, as a World Cup player in 1978, as a World Cup coach in 2006, and with your experience as a goalkeeper, what would you recommend to Malagon to regain his prominence?

Malagon has a problem that I've been saying for a while now. It surprises me, I don't know, I'm not one to criticize anyone, but I can say it because it's my position. In training, ever since I started playing in Argentina, or when I was on a team, I would tell the coaches and the goalkeepers to work on two things with me, not just the physical aspect, but the technical one. I mean, what is the technical aspect?

Opening up your stance, knowing how to move around the goal, what is it that we're seeing?

Because it's fine, I understand that the other day they said they beat Kevin Alvarez on Monterrey's goal, but Malagon is beaten from the front, not from behind, so it's something basic that you learn from the goalkeeper, the ball, the man, the reference point.Look where my opponent is, and that's the six-yard box, the goalkeeper's area.

LaVolpe insisted on this point: “For me, that number one spot should have gone to Malagon. Why? Because if I stand in goal and see where the cross is coming from, you go out to the edge of the six-yard box, and it's a cross from the goalkeeper. I remember that well.”

“I've been saying this since the Gold Cup: if you don't move out of that little box, there are problems. Malagon is a great shot-stopper because he has great reflexes, creativity, and power. But that's only part of it; he doesn't know how to control the area. So it surprises me that the goalkeeping coach isn't working on that with him. I think he needs to work on that a lot because otherwise, 'Tala' (Raul Rangel) can take advantage of that.”