Don’t let Jorge Campos’s clownish commenting fool you: he remains Mexico's best goalkeeper

A comparison between Diego Maradona and Jorge Campos is certainly valid: both were landmark football players who are now giving the impression of largely enjoying themselves by unleashing their tongues when in front of the microphones.

While remarks by the former Argentina number ten are like drops of tremendously corrosive acid, remarks by the former Mexico goalie in his role as tv pundit more often than not are bland, trite and absolutely harmless. “That wasn’t a penalty kick because the referee didn’t call it a penalty kick” is literally Campos’s most repeated line...

… and, in all these years, we don’t really know whether he actually means his comments or not.

After so many seasons of weird commenting it is only natural that younger generations of El Tri supporters have an image of Campos that belies his legacy as Mexico’s most innovative goalkeeper ever. Just like Argentina has in Hugo Orlando Gatti the figure that revolutionized it all in terms of goalkeeping, Mexico has in Campos a figure which should have started El Tri’s goalkeeping revolution.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Jorge Campos !🇲🇽🎂 ¡Felices 52 Brody!
▪️México:
🏆Confederaciones 99
🏆Copa Oro 93, 96
▪️UNAM:
🏆1ra División 90/91
🏆Copa Campeones CONCACAF 89
▪️Cruz Azul:
🏆Invierno 97pic.twitter.com/TMuIj3zENH

— 90s Futbol⚽️ (@90s_Futbol) 15 de octubre de 2018

Let’s go beyond his colorful kits (a misunderstood designer or a fashion criminal?): he had the guts to launch counterattacks by claiming aerial balls safely within his own box. The now stereotypically Mexican football style in which goalkeepers’ play comes down to a sort of chess stalemate in which everyone can just slack was absolutely impossible with him on the pitch.

Campos meant total play.

He could dribble and get past enemies with both feet and electric speed. He could bicycle-kick the ball playing as a striker. He was a fearless man when it came to getting out of his own shelter to tackle and intercept opposition play at the most imposing escenarios (see the impressive footage of the 1993 Copa America final against Argentina). And, just for the record, he was also capable of the most amazing saves below the bar.

Sadly, Campos’s adventurous style hasn’t been replicated by younger generations of Mexican keepers. From Oswaldo Sánchez to Guillermo Ochoa, the Mexican game tends to favor a more conservative approach in which reactions between the posts seem to be all that counts. Upcoming goalies like Xolos’ Gibrán Lajud and Chivas’ Raúl Gudiño certainly don’t look like something of a new “Brody” (Campos’s nickname) either.

For all of his clownish commenting, Campos truly was some goalie. Although the revolution which should have been spearheaded by him never really took off, the replays of his unbelievable set of skills and guile made available by social media are a timely reminder that the Mexican game can also produce unapologetic and innovative individuals.