Emiliano Martínez spoke about the Argentina national team and the comments from people talking about Argentina’s opponents at the World Cup.
Martínez commented at a press conference about playing against England and Spain. In the same press conference, he spoke about playing at this World Cup with the Argentina national team. Here is what he had to say:
“I’m obviously proud to be in the 2022 World Cup final, you know what it means to my country just to reach there and the one we won and we experienced Argentina like I have never seen before. The fans, they’re absolutely crazy, different to other countries. And seeing the other day, the people at 2:00 in the morning, celebrating in the cold, Argentinian weather in the moment. Proud for my family, pride for my country and we got a group of players, a group of coaches that they working incredibly hard every single day to try to bring happiness to my country. And we going to give absolutely our best, with Leo, with the team that we have to bring back to back World Cups into my country and celebrate with our people. “
The Argentine also spoke about the comments from people talking about Argentina’s opponents at the World Cup:
“People had opinions about the opponents we were up against but we didn’t choose our opponents.
“For example, Colombia dominated against Portugal, then Switzerland beat Colombia and we ended up playing Switzerland. It was tough. All the matches are tough. You just have to play and adapt.”
If we start paying heed to every fence-sitter, we’d have to believe that Colombia’s goalless draw against Portugal was scripted—and that the same Colombia losing to Switzerland on penalties was scripted too. The logic simply doesn’t hold.
Every team has progressed on merit, based on how it performed in the match in front of it. FIFA rankings have counted for very little once the tournament began. It is merely a coincidence that the four highest-ranked teams have ended up contesting the final and the third-place playoff.
The 2014 World Cup tells a different story. Argentina had to overcome one highly ranked opponent after another to reach the final, only to lose the title. Even then, a clear penalty appeal was waved away—something that German legend Lothar Matthäus himself later acknowledged should have been awarded. Yet Argentina didn’t spend the next decade claiming the tournament was scripted.
By that logic, should we now argue that Italy’s 2006 triumph was staged? Of course not. Football is decided on the pitch. Teams earn their victories—or suffer their defeats—over 90 minutes, not through conspiracy theories.