memo

Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa has experienced nearly everything a Mexican soccer player could imagine. World Cups, titles, criticism, adulation, impossible saves and nights when he practically carried the weight of an entire national team on his own. But at 40, the legendary Guadalajara-born goalkeeper seems to be looking toward the end of his career with a different kind of calm. No drama. No exaggerated nostalgia. Like someone who knows exactly what he has achieved and what he still wants to give to Mexican soccer before saying goodbye.

The Mexican goalkeeper recently confirmed that the 2026 World Cup will be the last of his career with the Mexican national team and likely also as a professional soccer player, thus closing a career that will place him on a list reserved for few names in soccer history.

If he manages to play at least one minute in this summer’s tournament hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada, Ochoa will have appeared in six World Cups — a feat he would share only with figures like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Though the goalkeeper himself makes it clear that he never puts himself on the same level as those legends.

“Being on that exclusive list would of course be fantastic on a personal level, but it would be even nicer and more interesting if people remember in the future that a Mexican shares that list with them,” Ochoa said.

Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa lays down and collects the ball during a friendly against Australia at the Rose Bowl on May 30.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

“They’re light years ahead of me in terms of what they’ve done in their careers, the goals they’ve scored, the titles they’ve won. I don’t compare myself to them at all. But the best thing would be if, one day, we could see a Mexican on that list.”

After being left out of some recent call-ups with the Mexican national team and facing doubts about his future beyond the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the veteran goalkeeper found a second soccer life in Europe.

First came the opportunity to play in Italy’s Serie A with US Salernitana 1919 and later he continued his career in Cyprus with AEL Limassol, staying physically sharp and keeping alive the possibility of reaching another World Cup.

“After the World Cup in Qatar, I thought to myself, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ Then the chance to play in Italy’s Serie A came up and I thought, ‘I’m not that far off anymore; I’m very close to the next World Cup,’” said Ochoa, who previously played for Club América.

“That’s when my mind said, ‘I can make it, I feel good, I’m in good shape, let’s go for it.’ But this is going to be my last one. Now there’s no turning back.”

Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa directs his teammates during a corner kick against Australia at the Rose Bowl on May 30.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Ochoa spoke about the announcement without a solemn tone. His history with Mexico spans practically an entire generation of fans. He made his professional debut with Club América in 2004 and appeared in his first World Cup two years later in Germany. Since then, he has gone from a young backup to an absolute icon for El Tri on the World Cup stage.

During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he delivered perhaps the most iconic performance of his career, becoming a hero against the host nation and stopping everything Neymar and company threw at him in Fortaleza. Four years later, in Russia, he delivered another memorable night in Mexico’s victory over Germany, stopping the reigning world champions. And in Qatar, he added another iconic moment by stopping Polish star Robert Lewandowski’s penalty kick.

Now, as Ochoa prepares for what could be his final World Cup on home soil, he insists that the goal is to maintain that level of excellence.

“That’s the standard, that’s the bar,” he said of his historic performances. “The intention is to be at that level. If I’m on the field, I have to do it. I have to be ready to perform at that level. And if I’m not called upon to do so, I’ll help and support.”

Because although his name remains one of the most important in the recent history of Mexican soccer, the starting spot no longer belongs to him. Mexican coach Javier Aguirre has publicly insisted that Ochoa will have to compete for minutes like any other player.

“I have to earn it,” Ochoa recently told reporters.

Meanwhile, the veteran goalkeeper also enjoys the chance to look back and laugh at all the stories from his nearly two decades of World Cup training camps.

Because behind the serious figure who stands between the posts lies a player who has experienced practically everything at the World Cups.

“We’ve been through it all,” he recalled with a laugh.

He spoke of animals climbing through the windows at training camps and impromptu matches on Brazilian beaches.

“In South Africa, we had to use golf carts. You have no idea the races we had in those carts that people didn’t see. We ended up with the carts overturned all over the training camp,” he recalled. “In Brazil, we’d have friendly matches on the beach after some games. It’s been so many years that it’s not hard to remember so many things — good, bad, silly — but it’s been a lot of fun.”

The combination of longevity, outgoing personality and historic performances made Ochoa one of the most recognizable Mexican soccer players of the last two decades. For many fans outside Mexico, the surname Ochoa is synonymous with the World Cup.

Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa plays a ball during a training session on March 26.

(Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

Even among international fans, there is special recognition of the Mexican goalkeeper due to his ability to rise to the occasion on the biggest stages.

But far from getting caught up in nostalgia, Ochoa is beginning to envision what comes after retirement.

While he admits it will be practically impossible to completely detach himself from soccer, he said there are important things to accomplish off the field.

“Stepping away from soccer is difficult. My name and my image are associated with soccer,” he acknowledged.

“There are many projects ahead. I’m someone who likes to make long-term agreements and plans. When you share values and goals, it’s easier to work together.”

For now, however, he said his full focus is solely on the World Cup.

“We can’t get distracted by other things,” he said. “The least the national team and the upcoming tournament deserve is for us to be 100% focused on that.”

Mexico arrives at the World Cup with enormous expectations and a lot of pressure as one of the tournament’s hosts. And although the spotlight will naturally fall on a new generation of players, Ochoa represents a bridge between different eras of Mexican soccer.

From the young, long-haired goalkeeper who appeared in Germany 2006 to the veteran leader who now seeks to cap his career at home, Ochoa has built a career that would be difficult for any Mexican soccer player to replicate.

An imperfect career, yes, but also one of profound resilience.

It is fitting that his farewell comes with one more World Cup — the stage where he became a legend.

WASHINGTON — Several FBI analysts tied to the creation of a 2023 memo warning of a potential threat from Catholic “violent extremists” were fired Friday, according to their lawyer, the latest wave of terminations under Director Kash Patel.

The fired employees included four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst. The FBI declined to comment.

“This action is manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts, and subverts standard FBI policy and procedure,” their lawyer, David Laufman, said in a statement. “These individuals deserved far better for the exceptional and faithful public service they rendered to protect our country.”

The January 2023 intelligence product produced by analysts in the FBI’s Richmond, Va., field office emerged as a political focal point after it was issued, with Republicans in Congress citing it as part of their broader claim that the FBI during the Biden administration was targeting conservatives.

Then-FBI Director Chris Wray denied that allegation and the agency has said the document was quickly retracted and an internal review was launched. Merrick Garland, the attorney general under President Biden, has said he was “appalled” by the memo.

Earlier Justice Department investigations into the memo challenged the analytical tradecraft but did not find intentional misconduct by the analysts involved.

The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under Patel, a President Trump loyalist who over the last year has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.

In February, for instance, the FBI fired a group of counterintelligence agents who participated in the investigation into Trump over his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

Critics including former federal officials say the purge has transformed federal law enforcement agencies into politically motivated extensions of the Trump White House. The classified documents investigation resulted in a federal indictment against Trump, but the case was dismissed after his 2024 election.

The Richmond memo, which emerged from a domestic terrorism investigation, sought to examine a potential link between what it called “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” ideology and racially and ethnically motivated extremists. It warned of the potential for violence and also highlighted what the authors described as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” FBI leadership quickly condemned those findings once the document became public.

An internal FBI review described in a 2023 letter to Congress and based on interviews with 26 people “found that all individuals involved in the creation, review and approval of the product failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards and failed to recognize that the product, as drafted, equated the subjects’ interest in their self-described form of religion with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) ideology without sufficient evidence or articulable support.”

The failure to adhere to standards, including on proper domestic terrorism terminology, “created the appearance that the FBI conducts investigative activity based on religious affiliation,” the letter said. “One of the FBI’s most fundamental principles is that investigative activity may not be based solely on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”

A Justice Department inspector general report in 2024 summarized the earlier FBI review by saying that though there were departures from proper analytic tradecraft, “no evidence of a malicious intent or an improper purpose” were found.

MS NOW earlier reported the firings.

Tucker and Richer write for the Associated Press and reported from Los Angeles and Washington, respectively.

After a tumultuous week, CBS News took a major step in stopping the bleeding at “60 Minutes.”

In a memo sent Friday morning, the three remaining “60 Minutes” correspondents Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl and Jon Wertheim said they will continue with the program. The trio strongly considered leaving in solidarity with their ousted colleagues Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi , Cecilia Vega and executive producer Tanya Simon and her second-in-command Draggan Mihailovich.

Pelley — angry over the dismissal of his other co-workers — was fired Tuesday, a day after confronting the program’s new executive producer Nick Bilton at his first staff meeting. Pelley questioned the credentials of Bilton, a former New York Times journalist with no experience in television news. He also accused CBS News Bari Weiss — who oversaw the changes — of “murdering” the program.

The memo said the decision to stay should not be seen “as an endorsement of the existing power structure.”

“Here’s why we’re staying: We don’t want ’60 Minutes’ to die,” they wrote.

The dismissal of Pelley, considered the most respected journalist inside CBS News, sent shockwaves through the organization and led to speculation of an exodus by the remaining three correspondents.

In their memo, Whitaker, Stahl and Wertheim said they felt the same bewilderment and frustration that Pelley did over the firing of their colleagues.

“We want to express how sorry we are that these principled, fair and honest journalists were treated so shabbily, with such indecency,” they wrote. “Tanya deserves to be celebrated, not truly cast off. Draggan too. It was heartbreaking.”

With the program in full-blown crisis, Bilton spent the rest of the week attempting to calm the waters and retain the disgruntled correspondents. He issued a memo Thursday praising Whitaker, Stahl and Wertheim — calling them “the core of the show’s success” — and promising to uphold the editorial independence of the program.

“We will always pursue stories without fear or favor,” Bilton said.

WASHINGTON — The White House is warning Congress that funding to pay Department of Homeland Security personnel will “soon run out,” sparking new threats of airport disruptions and national security concerns as the House slow-walks legislation to end what has been the longest-ever lapse in agency funding.

In a memo late Tuesday to lawmakers, the Office of Management and Budget said money that President Trump tapped to pay Transportation Security Administration and other workers through executive actions will be exhausted by May. It called on the House to quickly approve the budget resolution senators approved in an all-night session last week that would pave the way for full funding for the department.

“DHS will soon run out of critical operating funds, placing essential personnel and operations at risk,” the memo said.

The pressure from the Trump administration could help House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose narrow Republican majority has been stalled out, tangled in internal party disputes on a range of pending issues, including the Homeland Security funding. They have left the chamber at a virtual standstill.

The House was expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on the Senate budget resolution that is designed to unlock a multistep process to eventually fund the department. But by midday, House action again screeched to a halt. The administration has warned GOP lawmakers off making changes that could prolong passage.

“Restoring funding for the Department of Homeland Security has never been more urgent, as demonstrated by recent events,” the memo said, a nod to the situation over the weekend when a man armed with guns and knives tried to storm the annual White House correspondents’ dinner that Trump, the vice president and top Cabinet officials were attending.

Homeland Security shutdown is longest ever

Homeland Security has been operating without regular funds for more than two months after Democrats refused to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol without changes to those operations after the deaths of Americans protesting Trump’s deportation agenda.

While immigration enforcement workers have largely been paid through the flush of new cash — some $170 billion — that Congress approved as part of Trump’s tax cuts bill last year, others, including TSA, have had to rely on Trump’s intervention through executive action to ensure their paychecks.

But with salaries topping $1.6 billion every two weeks, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said recently, those funds are drying up.

More than 1,000 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began, according to Airlines for America, the U.S. airlines trade group that called Wednesday on Congress to fully fund the agency.

“The urgency to provide predictable and stable funding for TSA is growing stronger by the day,” the group said in a statement. “Time and time again, our nation’s aviation workers and customers have been the victim of Congress’ failure to do their jobs.”

Complicated budget strategy ahead

House and Senate Republicans have embarked on a go-it-alone strategy, attempting to approve funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol without Democrats. They want to provide $70 billion for those immigration operations for the remainder of Trump’s term to ensure no further interruptions.

It’s a cumbersome process, the same that was used last year to approve Trump’s tax cuts bill, that will play out over several weeks.

The Senate launched the process last week, and is now waiting on the House to act. Once that budget resolution is approved, both the House and Senate are expected to draft the actual funding bill, a process that can take weeks.

In the meantime, Johnson is next expected to quickly turn this week to legislation that would fund the other parts of Homeland Security, including TSA, the Coast Guard and other agencies.

That bipartisan bill has support from Democrats and already passed the Senate a month ago, when Republicans reluctantly agreed to carve out the immigration-related funds that Democrats had opposed. But it has been stalled out in the House, as Republicans in that chamber disagreed with the Senate’s approach.

Mascaro writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.