Guillermo Ochoa reveals that as a kid he wanted to be a striker, not a goalkeeper

It's not every day that a goalkeeper with six World Cups under his belt admits he actually wanted to score goals instead of stopping them. Guillermo Ochoa did exactly that, just weeks before hanging up his gloves after a 22-year career, during a tribute he received from Universidad Anahuac.

As it turns out, the "Memo" we all know between the posts started out wanting to be a striker. Plain and simple. He told the story himself, recalling afternoons back in Guadalajara when he'd sit behind the goal to watch matches, then head home to play with a friend, taking turns between the goal and the attack.

I wanted to be a striker, but they sent me to the goal. I don't know, when you have something inside you, little by little it comes out. I'm from Guadalajara, I used to go to matches all the time and I'd sit behind the goal, then I'd go home and play with a friend, one match I'd be the striker and the next the goalkeeper, we'd switch off, maybe that's where the goalkeeping bug came from, watching Siboldi, the Uruguayan goalkeeper, that's where it was bornGuillermo Ochoa

But the story has a few more twists. When he arrived at America's youth academy, there was only one open spot for goalkeeper, so Ochoa started out playing as a striker. And he didn't do badly at all: he made his debut and even scored a goal with his left foot. Fate, though, had other plans.

A penalty kick changed everything

Two matches after that goal, the starting goalkeeper hurt his shoulder and the coach asked who wanted to step in between the posts. Ochoa raised his hand. A penalty came almost immediately and he saved it. He figured it was just for a little while, until his teammate recovered a month and a half later, by which point Ochoa had already made the position his own.

"I kept playing goalkeeper, I did well, my teammate came back a month and a half later, I thought I was going to go back to being a striker, but no, the coach told me to stay, and that I had just been called up to a youth national team as a goalkeeper, not as a striker," Ochoa recalled about the twist that ended up defining his entire career.

From that anecdote to becoming one of just three players to have played in six World Cups is a massive leap, but that's how it all began.

Coaching? Ochoa says not for now

With retirement right around the corner, it was inevitable someone would ask what comes next. Managing a team, perhaps? Ochoa was clear: that's not the plan, at least not for now, even though he once started coursework toward becoming a coach and holds the first year of the UEFA coaching license.

No, no, honestly no, years ago yes, I have the first year of the UEFA license, the years went by and I found another path, because I've been in soccer for so many years, I know Mexican soccer can be changed from another angle, that's where I need to keep pushingGuillermo Ochoa

For now, the goalkeeper says he's going to focus on his personal plans. Taking charge of a bench, if that ever happens, will have to wait.