The record they said could never be broken is about to be broken by three men, one of them Mexican, surpassing a standard first achieved by another Mexican 60 years ago.
On July 19, 1966, the Mexican football team walked out onto the pitch in the iconic Wembley Stadium in London, England, to face Uruguay in the World Cup. Mexico needed to win this, their third game, and by at least two goals, if they were to progress in the tournament. Although they failed to achieve this target, they outplayed the two-time winners for long periods of the match and won the respect of the home crowd.
However, the match is best remembered for the appearance of goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal. He had been left out of the team for the first two games, the younger Ignacio Calderón being preferred. However, Calderón had not been particularly impressive against England, and Carbajal was back in the team on merit. This was a record-breaking moment, for Antonio Carbajal became the first man to play in five World Cup tournaments. As a bonus, the game finished 0-0, giving him a clean sheet to finish his World Cup career.
Carbajal’s achievement and the tying of an ‘unbreakable’ record
Antonio Carbajal first played in the 1950 World Cup, back in an age when the players traveled to the tournament by ship. He captained the team in 1958 and 1962 and gave Mexico a certain stability during a time when the national team was not the soccer power it has since become. At 1.81 meters, he was big for a Mexican of this generation, and he combined his size with a fair amount of agility. Perhaps his strongest point was his bravery in rushing out to take the ball from an opponent’s feet. His remarkable longevity was not limited to the Mexican team. He played for 16 years for Club León, and in a country where a football manager’s life is often measured in months, he guided Club Atlético Morelia for a decade.
After the Uruguay game, English newspaper The Times suggested that, with football’s ever-increasing demands, five World Cup tournaments was a record that would never be beaten. This seemed a fair point at the time. Playing in five tournaments required a career of 18 to 20 years, which meant playing through to at least your mid-30s. You had to play for one of a handful of nations guaranteed a place in the tournament every four years, and you had to be lucky with injuries. It was 1998 before the German player Lothar Matthäus came on as a substitute against Yugoslavia to equal Carbajal’s record of five World Cup appearances. Surprisingly, Matthäus was an outfield player, men generally expected to have shorter careers than goalkeepers. Since then, four other men have played in five World Cup tournaments, and two of these have been Mexicans.
Rafael Márquez crafts a World Cup legacy
The third player, and the second Mexican, to appear in five tournaments was Rafael Márquez, a man whose career would make a perfect blueprint for any young player to follow. He first made his name in the Mexican league with Atlas. He also made his debut for Mexico, although there was some controversy surrounding this event. The story is that Serbian coach Velibor Milutinović had intended to call up his older Atlas clubmate César Márquez, but there was confusion over the similar names.
Rafael made the expected move to Europe, starting in France with Monaco, a medium-sized club where he could get plenty of playing time. It was a wild time to be in Monaco, their team of stars winning the French league in 2000, but with the club’s finances so chaotic that they came close to being relegated as a punishment. In the summer of 2002, the 23-year-old Márquez was selected for his first World Cup tournament. He was nominated as captain and played in all four games.
How he got to 5 tournaments
He now made the big step, signing with Barcelona. This is the stage that trips up many players, who might spend two to three frustrating seasons on the bench. Rafael Márquez, however, thrived. He joined the club at a low point — they had not won a major trophy for 5 years — teamed up in defense with the legendary Carles Puyol, and the club entered a golden spell that brought four league titles and two wins in the Champions League.
While with Barcelona, Rafael Márquez captained Mexico in his second and third World Cup tournaments. He then stepped down a level, first playing in New York, before returning to Mexico. In this way kept playing regular football and captained Mexico in a fourth World Cup in 2014. He retired from club football at the end of the 2018 season but kept training and was in that year’s World Cup squad. The Mexican captain, Andres Guardado, was nursing a muscle injury, and Rafael Márquez covered for him.
In the 74th minute of the opening match with Germany, he came on to play in his fifth tournament. His last game came 15 days later in the knockout stages when he started the match against Brazil and was taken off at half-time with the score at 0-0. Remarkably, three of the men in the Mexican team that afternoon would be selected for five World Cup tournaments, the others being Andres Guardado and Guillermo Ochoa.
Andrés Guardado joins the 5-timer club
Born in Guadalajara, Andrés Guardado was a first-team player at 19 and played his first game for Mexico a few months later. He was selected for the 2006 World Cup and played in one game. Like Márquez, he headed for Europe, where he would spend most of his career. He played on the left of midfield, either as an out-and-out defender or with more license to roam forward. He was very good at his job, but this was not one of the glamor positions, and none of the really big clubs came looking for him. The years from 2007 to 2015 were spent at Deportivo de La Coruña and Valencia, respectable Spanish clubs but unlikely to win silverware.
Two more World Cups came and went, with Andres Guardado now a key member of the side. A spell in the Netherlands saw him win two Dutch championships, and then it was back to Spain with another mid-table side, Betis. He appeared in the 2018 (his 4th) and 2022 (his 5th) World Cups, playing through various muscle injuries. In 2018, he started every game and captained the team, but was usually taken off in the second half to save him for the next game. In 2022, he was limited to a single match, captaining the team against Argentina before leaving the pitch at the start of the second half.
Guillermo Ochoa becomes the 2nd Mexican goalkeeper to play in 5 World Cups
Two other men have attended five World Cups but not played in all of the tournaments. One is the great Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who went to the 1998 tournament but had to wait until 2002 to get onto the pitch. The other is Mexican goalie Guillermo Ochoa. Born in Guadalajara, he made his name with América and stayed with them for eight seasons at a time when other promising young stars were leaving on the first plane for Europe. He was in the Mexican World Cup squad in 2006, but was only the third choice and did not get on the pitch. In 2010, he was, to the surprise of many fans, an understudy to Oscar Pérez, and it was 2014, and his third tournament, before Ochoa made his World Cup debut.
Ochoa was voted “Man of the Match” in the game with Brazil, producing a save that is widely regarded as one of the best ever seen at a World Cup tournament. Both Rafael Márquez and Andres Guardado shone for their clubs, their World Cup performances being the icing on their careers. Guillermo Ochoa, in contrast, has built his whole reputation around his World Cup tournaments. When he eventually moved to Europe, it was to AC Ajaccio. Based on the island of Corsica, they had just won promotion to the French first division, and Ochoa was with them for three seasons of relegation struggles.
Ochoa set to break a 60-year-old record
From there, it was to Malaga, a club where the fans respect loyalty and flair. However, they already had a good goalkeeper in Cameroon international Carlos Kameni, and Ochoa’s playing time was limited. The fourth World Cup came in 2018, and there was a fifth tournament in 2022, when Ochoa again made headlines by saving a penalty from the great Polish player Robert Lewandowski.
It is difficult to access Ochoa’s career, for much of it has taken place out of the limelight. When on form, he is a lively figure, shouting and motivating his team from the back. At 1.85 meters, he is a fraction small for a modern keeper. But he has an amazing ability to stretch for the ball — almost a superhuman elasticity in his limbs — that allows him to get a finger to a shot that looks beyond his reach. However, at times, he can also seem to lose concentration.
Ochoa and the elite company he is keeping with his 6th World Cup appearance
There was considerable debate as to whether Ochoa should be included in this year’s squad, with the keeper now 40 years of age and playing out of the international spotlight in Cyprus. However, an injury to Luis Ángel Malagón decided the issue and Ochoa will be attending his sixth tournament.
With modern care and diet, professional players can extend their active careers, and on June 17, 2026, Lionel Messi is expected to become the first player to appear in a sixth World Cup tournament. A few hours later, Cristiano Ronaldo might equal that record when Portugal starts its campaign.
Bob Pateman lived in Mexico for six years. He is a librarian and teacher with a Master’s Degree in History.
