{"id":7822,"date":"2026-07-20T04:35:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T04:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7822"},"modified":"2026-07-20T04:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T04:35:39","slug":"argentinas-goalkeeper-had-a-game-for-the-ages-then-spain-scored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7822","title":{"rendered":"Argentina\u2019s goalkeeper had a game for the ages. Then Spain scored."},"content":{"rendered":"

Even with a broken right ring finger, 33-year-old Emiliano Martinez kept thwarting the Spaniards. \u201cIt\u2019s all in your mind,\u201d he said of the pain. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t affect me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Trump loomed over the World Cup, up until the awkward trophy ceremony<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Emiliano Martinez delivered an 11-save master class against Spain \u2014 a record for the World Cup final. (Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. \u2014 Emiliano Mart\u00ednez made the rounds and comforted his shell-shocked teammates one by one. Dispensed hugs. Tapped shoulders. Kissed foreheads. As the Argentine players sat in a circle \u2014 some absently gazing into the stands, others staring into the grass below \u2014 their nearly unbeatable goalkeeper tried to save them from despondence.<\/p>\n

Sunday afternoon\u2019s World Cup final did not go as planned for Argentina. Not only did Spain deny the Argentines a second straight title with the 1-0 extra-time triumph, La Roja suffocated its opponent with on-the-ball precision from beginning to end. Spain controlled 68 percent of the possession and held Argentina without a shot on target. Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s red card right before extra time plunged the defending champion into survival mode. Argentine icon Lionel Messi was comprehensively neutralized.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, they deserved the victory,\u201d Argentina Coach Lionel Scaloni said. \u201cThat\u2019s reality. We need to accept it. But we were close, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not wrong. Argentina did nearly push the game to a shootout. In that scenario, few would have bet against Mart\u00ednez. Not after his clutch performance powered Argentina to a shootout win over France in the final four years ago. Not after he delivered an 11-save master class against Spain \u2014 a record for the World Cup final. Not after the 33-year-old kept thwarting the Spaniards with a broken right ring finger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be making the headlines,\u201d Mart\u00ednez said Friday via an interpreter. \u201cI want my teammates to be the stars. The goalkeepers are the only ones who don\u2019t score the goals, don\u2019t celebrate the goals. They are on their own, and they don\u2019t tend to be protagonists. I\u2019ve never wanted to be that. But if the moment comes? I will try.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure enough, Mart\u00ednez stepped up. He did well to snare Mikel Oyarzabal\u2019s one-timer late in the first half, ensuring that Argentina got to intermission deadlocked. After halftime, he denied Ferran Torres\u2019s 67th-minute header and Pedri\u2019s long-range effort. He also lunged to keep Aymeric Laporte off the scoreboard in the 81st.<\/p>\n

When Spanish prodigy Lamine Yamal eyed immortality deep into second-half stoppage time, Mart\u00ednez steered aside the swerving free kick with a soaring intervention. His reaction stop on Nico Williams\u2019s deft deflection early in extra time was another one for the highlight reel. Spain finally broke through on Torres\u2019s 106th-minute tally, but there was nothing Mart\u00ednez could do about the emphatic point-blank finish.<\/p>

Read more JD and Usha Vance announce birth of fourth child<\/a><\/p>\n

To boot, Mart\u00ednez stabilized the Argentine back line through one setback after another. Three of the four starting defenders \u2014 Lisandro Mart\u00ednez, Cristian Romero and Gonzalo Montiel \u2014 came off with injuries. Fern\u00e1ndez\u2018s ejection after two yellow cards reduced Argentina to 10 men for extra time.<\/p>\n

Then there was the discomfort that surely came with each stinging save after Mart\u00ednez broke his finger while warming up for English club Aston Villa before the Europa League final May 20. (He naturally notched a shutout in that title game as Villa thrashed Germany\u2019s Freiburg.) Addressing reporters Friday, Mart\u00ednez said that he ignored advice to undergo surgery and that he wasn\u2019t \u201cfeeling good\u201d entering the tournament. Still, he learned to block out the pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all in your mind,\u201d Mart\u00ednez said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t affect me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mart\u00ednez\u2019s career has been a curiosity. Born in the seaside city of Mar del Plata, the 6-foot-5 shot-stopper joined Arsenal\u2019s youth academy as a teenager and spent a decade with the English Premier League power. But he never got a proper shot at the No. 1 spot, instead toiling as a backup or embarking on loan after loan to smaller clubs (six in all).<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until Mart\u00ednez joined Villa in 2020 at age 28 that he locked down a long-term starting job. He made his debut for Argentina at the end of that season \u2014 a decade after earning his first national team call-up. And he entrenched his place in Argentine lore in the 2022 World Cup final, when his charging kick save denied France\u2019s Randal Kolo Muani at the end of extra time and he stoned Kingsley Coman in the subsequent shootout.<\/p>\n

Mart\u00ednez was named the top goalkeeper of that World Cup, and he claimed FIFA\u2019s goalkeeper of the year prize as well. He earned the FIFA award again in 2024, when he backstopped Argentina to the Copa Am\u00e9rica crown. Still, some questioned his status as a truly elite goalkeeper in the absence of a transfer to a traditional powerhouse. (A rumored move to Manchester United in 2025 fell apart.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say Mart\u00ednez\u2019s performance Sunday silenced such doubts. Even if this final didn\u2019t end with Mart\u00ednez lifting the World Cup trophy, he delivered a stand-on-his-head performance for the ages all the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings can go well or bad,\u201d Mart\u00ednez said before the match. \u201cBut we will always remember these moments.\u201d<\/p>

Read more An epic World Cup goes even longer, with Spain finishing on top<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even with a broken right ring finger, the 33-year-old Argentina goalkeeper kept thwarting the Spaniards. \u201cIt\u2019s all in your mind,\u201d Mart\u00ednez said of the pain. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t affect me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nArgentina\u2019s goalkeeper had a game for the ages. 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