Carlos Augusto Ochoa Mendoza (born 5 March 1978) is a Mexican former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker. He started his career as a substitute for Necaxa in 1999, and was part of their squad that finished third in the

2000 FIFA Club World Championship The 2000 FIFA Club World Championship was the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup, the world club championship for men's club association football teams. It took place in Brazil from 5 January to 14 January 2000. FIFA as football's international gover ...

. He later rose to prominence playing with

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Found ...

, where he reached the final. From Tigres, he was transferred to

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El S ...

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

, but saw little action and was returned to Tigres. He has also played with Querétaro and Chiapas, where

Salvador Cabañas Salvador Cabañas Ortega (born 5 August 1980) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a striker. Cabañas played for Club 12 de Octubre, Guaraní, Audax Italiano, Chiapas, Club América, General Caballero, Tanabi and ...

and he formed a dominant forward offense in the 2000s. He then moved to Monterrey where he played for two years. In December 2008, Ochoa was loaned to

Club Deportivo Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...

on a one-year deal with an option for sale. Ochoa stated that he would be honored to end his career with the Guadalajara jersey. He also said he had wanted for years to play for Chivas, but since they never made an offer, he stayed with Monterrey. During the

Interliga 2009 The 2009 InterLiga was the 6th edition of the tournament that determined the last two Mexican spots in the 2009 Copa Libertadores. Venues Qualification The eight qualified teams were the eight best-positioned teams in the 2008 Apertura gene ...

, Ochoa scored four goals in three games for Chivas. In the final he scored an own goal but Chivas still won the Interliga Championship. In his Clausura 2009 debut, he scored 2 goals against

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

, which ended in a 3–3 draw. Due to poor performance, though, Ochoa was sent to

CD Tapatio The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

, the Chivas second-division affiliate. When new head coach Paco Ramirez took rein of Chivas, Ochoa was called back up to the first team. At the end of the season, Chivas passed on purchasing Ochoa and he was sold by Monterrey to

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

for the Apertura 2009 season. After being purchased by Santos Laguna, he has been also loaned to Chiapas and

. After his loan to Tigres UANL he returned to Santos Laguna.

International career

During

Javier Aguirre Javier Aguirre Onaindía (; born 1 December 1958), nicknamed ''El Vasco'' (The Basque), is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager who is currently in charge of Spanish team RCD Mallorca. Aguirre played for Mexico at the 1986 Wo ...

's era in front of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, he was called up for the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

qualifying matches, but in the end he was left out of the squad that participated in the

. Five years later, he finally got another chance to represent his national team again.

Career statistics

International

International goals

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ochoa, Carlos 1978 births Living people People from Apatzingán Footballers from Michoacán Mexican footballers Mexican people of Basque descent Liga MX players Mexican expatriate footballers La Liga players Club Necaxa footballers Tigres UANL footballers CA Osasuna players Querétaro F.C. footballers Chiapas F.C. footballers C.F. Monterrey players C.D. Guadalajara footballers C.D. Veracruz footballers Santos Laguna footballers Atlético Morelia players Atlas F.C. footballers Mexico international footballers 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Association football forwards