By Mike Gawdzik on

In a moment the FIFA World Cup was made for, Robert Lewandowski, arguably the best striker in the world, placed down the ball at the spot to take a penalty kick against legendary Mexican keeper Guillermo Ochoa.

It was a story with a conclusion already written, given that Robert Lewandowski has converted the last ten penalties for Poland in international play. Still, Ochoa is a different kind of keeper.

Thirty-seven years old and still starting for El Tri, Ochoa looked ready when Lewandowski took his steps back behind–and a little to the left–of the ball.

Trying to ride that razor-thin line of power and accuracy, Lewandowski tried to put the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal; Ochoa had him clocked the whole time, easily pushing the ball away, sending the entire soccer world into a frenzy:

https://twitter.com/i/events/1578544278199947264

Mexico has been criticized for being one of the older squads, but Ochoa has hopefully silenced the critics for a while, as only one or two keepers in the world could have made that save. Unfortunately for Lewandowski, one of those keepers was standing between him and glory.

The match ended in a scoreless draw, resulting in a group that has been turned upside down with Saudi Arabia leading the group with three points, Poland and Mexico with a point a piece, and Argentina in last with zero points.

Mexico will play Argentina this Saturday (11 am ET) at Lusail Stadium. Poland will play the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia This Saturday (8 am ET) at Education City Stadium.

[Telemundo Deportes]

About Mike Gawdzik

A fan of the Red Devils and White Sox, Mike Gawdzik is a high school English teacher by day and a writer by night. He tries to write what he knows, like when he was a drag queen for a day or when he competed in an amateur boxing tournament in South Korea. When reading student essays isn’t enough for him, he’s also the creative nonfiction editor for Flying Island and Sport Literate.

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