Mexico coach Miguel Herrera admitted that he had never seen a better goalkeeping display at the World Cup than that by Guillermo Ochoa in his side's 0-0 draw with Brazil.
Ochoa's heroics helped Mexico frustrate the tournament hosts in Fortaleza and left El Tri needing just a point to qualify for the last 16.
And Herrera acknowledged on Tuesday that even 'Memo' Ochoa's great compatriot Jorge Campos, the flamboyant keeper of the 1990s, never produced such a decisive performance at the very highest level.
"In my memory I can't remember a goalkeeper who performed like that in a World Cup. Campos was great but Memo gave the security to the team which we needed at the back," said Herrera, before adding that his decision to select the 28-year-old ahead of Jose Corona and Alfredo Talavera had been fully justified.
"I decided to pick these three for the World Cup and then I had to select a first-choice keeper. It was never in my mind to start changing. I sat down with my backroom staff and my goalkeeping coach (Jose Torruco)."
"It wasn't that the other two did not look solid but we decided that Memo looked just a tiny bit better than them. That's why we decided that Memo would be our keeper at the start of the World Cup," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"It wasn't that the other two did not look solid but we decided that Memo looked just a tiny bit better than them. That's why we decided that Memo would be our keeper at the start of the World Cup," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Mexico's solid start to the tournament means that, regardless of what happens in Wednesday's meeting of Croatia and Cameroon in Manaus, a draw against the Croats in Recife on Monday, June 23, will take them into the last 16.