Emiliano Martínez commented on Virgil van Dijk and Emiliano Martínez’s penalty kicks at the World Cup.
Martínez made two penalty kick saves against the Netherlands at the World Cup, saved one and had one which was missed against him versus France in the World Cup final. The best goalkeeper in the world spoke to ESPN about the Argentina national team, the World Cup and using a psychologist during the tournament. He also commented on van Dijk and Tchouaméni taking their penalty kicks. Here is what he had to say:
“I had seen three finals that Van Dijk had kicked to the left.
“There’s a final at Wembley that stuck in my mind, because I watch a lot of football, that Kepa stood there as if he were fooling him and leaving him the whole goal free and he still hit it to that side. And he put it in and looked at the goalkeeper.
“In the three shots he kicked there, they had won. I said: ‘I’ll stay calm and I’m going to die there’.
“If I save two and my teammates score two, we have an 80% chance of winning.”
When talking about Aurélien Tchouaméni’s penalty:
“Look at this kid’s face, tell me he’s not nervous. He was dead. I said: ‘if he misses, we are champions’.
“I practiced it with my psychologist: if he saved one, I made life impossible for the next one.
“If he went to the goal, I would also save it.”
ARGENTINA became champions because EVERYBODY contributed to that success, EVERYBODY and that’s the epitome of a team. How far did this team come from 2018 to 2022, especially in the GK position and DEBU was a major contributor and you just can’t say enough about him. He helped make ARG champions in COPA and again in the WC with his ability, talent, tricks and guile!
I have said this before and I’ll say it again, the last WC’s reality was better than fantasy, at least in my mind. ARG WON, Messi was a major figure in all games and the best player, enemies were humiliated and the biggest egos TRASHED……….I couldn’t have wished all that prior to the WC!
Agreed. What I love is they didn’t leave out any small details. They did proper homework. It wasn’t fluke or luck. Kudos
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