While this is Ochoa’s sixth World Cup, it’s his fourth in action. Ochoa had to watch from the bench in 2006 and 2010, but he finally made his World Cup debut in 2014 in Brazil. And so began the rise of a legend.

Ochoa became synonymous with soccer’s premier international competition after that. Save after improbable save, No. 13 transmuted from mortal to saint — “San Memo” — an icon and a savior to those who worship at the shrine of Mexican football.

For fans like Martínez, Ochoa’s Herculean moments are burned into memory.

There was Ochoa’s heroic save of Poland’s Robert Lewandowski’s penalty kick in the second half during the teams’ opening match in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a game that ended in a draw.

There was the 2014 World Cup when he blocked Neymar’s zooming header with a shocking one-handed save to his right. The game ended nil-nil.

And of course, there was the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where Ochoa soared to meet Germany’s Toni Kroos’ freekick that flew to the upper right corner of the net. With a magic touch on the ball, Ochoa sent it up to the crossbar.

“I remember where I was those days, I remember how it felt, how everyone was going crazy watching those games,” Martínez said.

He said Ochoa’s presence added “a sense of security” that Mexico could keep a clean sheet against any team.

“I really think he’ll be remembered alongside Jorge Campos, when people ask who the best Mexican keeper of all times has been,” Martínez said.

Eva Santana, 40, of Chicago, has been supporting “El Tri” as a family tradition since she was a child.

“It doesn’t just feel like the end of a career, it feels like the end of a piece of our childhood,” she said about watching Ochoa’s return to the pitch.

“For others it’s Ronaldo or Messi, but for Mexicans it’s Memo,” Santana said. “He has given fans hope, especially when Mexico was up against the world’s best teams. For many of us, he’ll always be remembered as the goalkeeper who stood tall when Mexico needed him most.”

Posts on Mexico’s national team page of Ochoa are flooded with comments like “Leyenda” (legend), “Capitán por siempre” (forever captain) and “No Memo no party.”

On a post for a raffle to win his jersey, one fan wrote: “Memo, I’ve followed your career since I was just 10 years old … looking back now, I realize I’ve spent more than half my life admiring you.”

His own teammates are among his fans.

Gilberto Mora, Mexico’s 17-year-old starlet attacker, told FIFA earlier this month: “Memo Ochoa is my idol.”

“When I was growing up, I used to watch the national team’s matches, and Memo was always in goal, making saves to keep us in the game. Now being able to play alongside him on the pitch and call him a team-mate is a dream come true.”

At the end of Wednesday’s game, Ochoa walked to his right and planted a kiss on the goalpost. He turned, walked to his left and kissed that one, too, a farewell to the structures he stood between over the course of his more than 20 years as a professional.

Ochoa took a knee in front of the goal and crossed himself again. His teammates made their way over and surrounded him, jumping in celebration. Then, they tossed him into the air as the ranchera classic “El Rey” — the king — played around them.

Ochoa will remain with the squad as it proceeds into the knockout stage, though it’s unclear but unlikely that he’ll play again. But if Wednesday night was his last stand, it was more than a triumph — it was a memory to last a lifetime.

“Having the opportunity to close out today with this, in the stadium that saw me be born, that saw me grow, I think it was the perfect ending, the finishing touch, and with the love that the people showed me,” he told Telemundo Deportes. “I’m going to carry this with me as the best moment I’ve ever had with the national team.”