Man, sometimes a random thought just grabs hold of you and won’t let go until you dig up the truth. I was just chilling last night, watching some old World Cup clips—you know how that goes, you click one, and three hours later you’re deep in 2014 highlights. And then I hit the Mexico vs. Brazil game. That 0-0 draw. Holy cow, Ochoa! The way he just shut down Neymar, Fred, everyone. It was a masterpiece of keeping. But then a question popped into my head that I couldn’t shake: Who was actually standing in front of him for that first match of the tournament?
I knew for sure that the Brazil game was the second one, so I had to focus my search on the very first match, which was against Cameroon. My memory is absolute garbage for names, especially when you go back a decade, so I had to commit to finding the official, stone-cold verified starting XI for that opener.
The Initial Scramble and Confirmation Bias Check
First thing I did was what everyone does: I grabbed my phone and hammered out the query. I typed in some basic stuff: “Mexico starting lineup 2014 world cup first game.” It’s always tempting just to take the first Wikipedia snippet, but experience has taught me that sports stats, especially lineups, can get messy, or sometimes they list the squad and not the starters. I needed the exact eleven that Piojo Herrera sent out onto the pitch in Natal on June 13, 2014.
I started with the easy one: the formation. Herrera was notorious for that aggressive 5-3-2 setup, or sometimes they called it a 3-5-2, which is what they used that whole tournament. That immediately helped me filter out any results that looked too modern or traditional. I was looking for three center-backs, two crazy wing-backs who basically played as midfielders, three central midfielders, and two strikers. It was crucial to visualize the shape before I tried to plug in the names.
I pulled up three different major sports database sites and started cross-referencing the rosters. I made a mental checklist. Was Rafa Márquez playing? Had to be, he was the captain. Was Giovani dos Santos upfront? Maybe, but I needed to be sure it wasn’t Chicharito starting over him or Oribe Peralta. This is where you have to slow down, because sometimes the internet defaults to the most famous player rather than the one who actually started that specific game.
I spent a good fifteen minutes arguing with my own memory about the defenders. I knew one of the fullbacks was Layún, but was Aguilar on the right that game, or was it someone else? I specifically looked for official FIFA reports or archived match sheets, skipping over the fan forums, because those are often riddled with errors or pre-match predictions.
Locking Down the Eleven and Analyzing the System
Once I managed to sync up three reliable sources—one of which was an old ESPN match report detailing the official team sheet—I felt confident enough to put the lineup down. I pulled out a notepad and wrote it all out by position, just to make sure I wasn’t mixing up my left wings with my right backs. I needed to see it visually.
Here’s what I nailed down for the first game against Cameroon, which Mexico won 1-0, thanks to a goal from Peralta (another detail I had to confirm, because I initially thought it was Dos Santos!).
- Goalkeeper: Guillermo Ochoa. (The whole reason I started this inquiry in the first place!)
- Defenders (The Back Three): Francisco Rodríguez (Maza), Rafael Márquez (Captain), Héctor Moreno.
- Wing-Backs: Paul Aguilar (Right Side), Miguel Layún (Left Side).
- Midfielders (The Engine Room): Héctor Herrera, José Juan Vázquez (Gallo), Andrés Guardado.
- Forwards (The Attackers): Oribe Peralta, Giovani dos Santos.
The system was clear. I specifically focused on verifying the placement of Guardado and Herrera because they were crucial to moving the ball up to the wings, and their names kept popping up slightly differently on various sites—some listing them as wide midfielders, some as central. But the consensus pointed to that solid central trio with Vázquez cleaning up behind them. I highlighted Layún and Aguilar’s positions because they were effectively two more attackers when Mexico pushed forward, which is exactly why Herrera chose that system.
The Context of the Hero
The whole starting point, of course, was Ochoa. I realized that against Cameroon, the team actually played pretty well defensively. The win was tight, only 1-0, and Dos Santos had those two goals ridiculously disallowed. But despite the relative dominance, Ochoa still had to be sharp. That’s what confirmed my hunch.
Leading up to 2014, there was massive drama about who would get the number one shirt. Corona or Ochoa? Herrera stuck with Ochoa, starting him in the very first, critical group stage match. That was the foundational decision. If Ochoa hadn’t been solid in that opener, even if it was “just” Cameroon, the pressure for the Brazil game would have been unbearable, and he might have been pulled.
So, while the world remembers those unbelievable stops against Brazil—the save from Neymar’s header, the block on the shot from close range—the truth is, Ochoa had to earn his hero status right from minute one of the tournament. The fact that Mexico kept a clean sheet in both the Cameroon and Brazil games, using the same starting defense anchored by him, proved Herrera’s faith was justified.
I spent maybe 45 minutes sifting through old articles and match day reports just to settle a midnight curiosity, but honestly, it was time well spent. It really brought back how much intensity surrounded that team. I committed the final eleven to memory, specifically noting the three-man backline and the two attacking fullbacks who had to run themselves ragged.
It’s funny how sometimes you think you know a historical moment perfectly, but until you go through the process of verifying the raw data, you’re just relying on hazy nostalgia. Now I know the full story, from the captain Márquez to the goalscorer Peralta. And yeah, Ochoa was definitely the hero, not just for the saves against Brazil, but for anchoring that lineup from the very first match onward and validating the coach’s controversial choice.