It’s certainly hard to be in the business of predicting what certain players were thinking when they did one thing or the other. This time around though, the impact of Christian Martinoli’s comments about Memo Ochoa was clear for all to see. We’re not just talking about that first goal that he gave up to Toluca, we’ll get to that in a bit.
Before the game Televisa’s TUDN account on Twitter revealed what the whole night was going to be about for them. Defending Memo Ochoa at all costs. The official TUDN account showed a picture of Ochoa with a caption that referenced the fact that Ochoa does in fact take the necessary steps to make saves. Something that was criticized by Martinoli. Once the pregame broadcast started it was clear that Televisa had instructed their on air talent to do some major boot licking, hyping up Ochoa throughout the entire pregame. Just a few minutes into the game though everything backfired!
Ochoa tried to come out and catch a cross, but failed miserably. The end result saw Toluca’s Haret Ortega poach the ball into an empty net. Televisa announcers were reluctant to say it was Ochoa’s fault, but the Memo praise certainly stopped from that moment forward. Is it fair to say that Cristian Martinoli’s comments directly impacted the outcome of the game?
A Poorly Timed Blunder By Memo Ochoa
If Martinoli’s comments were not on Ochoa’s mind in the early stages of the game against Toluca then he just picked the worst possible time to screw up. Let’s not get it twisted he committed a cardinal sin for a goalkeeper. When you come out to try and catch a cross the worst thing that you can do is not even impact that ball trajectory, fall down, and leave an empty net. Ochoa did all three!
What makes things worse is that when looking at the play Ochoa shouldn’t even have come out and tried to catch that particular ball. At least not at the point where he did. By the time he runs into his own defender the ball is too low for him to have any advantage. Part of the reason why his timing is so off on this play is because he’s standing back too far into the goal to begin with. All of this adds up to an unfortunate result: it does seem like Ochoa tried a bit too hard to prove the doubters wrong. Instead, he validated Martinoli’s criticism.
El gol de Tolucapic.twitter.com/mYFiytJRec
— Adal Franco (@AdalFrancoESPN) October 20, 2022
Is There Any Other Media Personality That Could Directly Influence The Game & An Opposing Company’s Broadcast?
Another element to this story that can’t be understated is the impact that Chrisitan Martinoli as a media personality has on Liga MX. It’s one thing to hold a rivalry between the two most popular TV networks in Mexico, and have both sides feed off that rivalry. Azteca has done this too where they make fun of someone from Televisa for a comment they made. What we perhaps had never seen before is a comment or a couple of them impacting an entire network’s broadcast of a game.
What’s worse for Televisa is that the Ochoa error made them look silly 20 minutes into the game. Another thing that was on full display is that Televisa currently does not have an on air personality whose comments carry enough weight to be able to alter the way that the other side operates. Yesterday was just a massive defeat for Televisa, Memo Ochoa, and Club America. The good news is that Club America is still very much in the series. Ochoa made a great save in the second half in a 1v1 against Meneses. If Club America wins they can flip this narrative against Azteca, and Martinoli. Last night was just embarrassing on so many levels for them.
