SUMMARY
- Emiliano Martinez, the goalkeeper for Argentina, played a crucial role in Argentina's success at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
- While Lionel Messi received much of the spotlight during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Emiliano Martinez is recognized as the unsung hero for Argentina.
Emiliano Martinez, the goalie for Argentina at the World Cup, was a master in psychological tricks and a penalty taker, which helped his nation and Lionel Messi win in Qatar. His heroics in penalty shootouts have helped the nation advance and win two tournaments: the World Cup against the Netherlands and France, and the Copa America against Colombia.
Dibu instructs his colleagues on how to operate their own against opposition goalkeepers in addition to being an expert at saving them. “I say to them if I save the first penalty, the next one has to go through the middle. You know why? That is from my psychology training for years,” he revealed on Behind the Game Podcast.
Mind playing trick with psychology. Look at what they had discussed in training. And yet one Twitter user will say World Cup is rigged pic.twitter.com/dM2560kfJa
— DesmundOris (@Desmund_Oris) December 20, 2023
While the Tottenham goalie was diving, Dibu instructed the AS Roma attacker to aim for the middle. The attacker had originally intended to strike to the left. That’s exactly what Dybala accomplished, scoring with the softest of touches while the French captain dove in the direction he had thought of.
Emi Martinez(Dibu) will always go down as one of the greatest goalkeepers to play for Argentina. While the spotlight was on Lionel Messi during the whole tournament, the real unsung hero for Argentina was Emi Martinez in the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
Emi Martinez feels sorry for players born in the Lionel Messi era
Emiliano Martinez, the goalkeeper for Argentina, has expressed sympathy for other Ballon d’Or contenders who are competing in the Lionel Messi era. Messi, 36, continues to play strong for club and country and is largely considered the greatest player in the history of the beautiful game. With Argentina, he fulfilled a lifetime ambition at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
Martinez, Messi’s Argentina teammate and a 2023 Ballon d’Or nominee, believes that Messi should win the trophy (Ballon’Dor) since he is the greatest player in the world. According to Albiceleste Talk, he said: “The award goes to the best player in the world and yes, Leo (Messi) has to win it 25 times. I apologize to the people who are in his era.” Eventually, Lionel Messi did win the Ballon d’Or for the 8th time in his illustrious career.
🗣 “I’ve never seen someone play so well in my life.”
Emi Martinez on Leo Messi. pic.twitter.com/ARMRsen7PI
— BD Albiceleste 🇧🇩💙🇦🇷 (@bd_albiceleste) December 10, 2021
Martinez’s claim that Messi has won 25 Ballon d’Or titles is undoubtedly over the top, but for a spell there, the latter’s record seems unbeatable. In the 2023 Ballon d’Or competition, the Aston Villa goalie placed fifteenth. Soccer fans will always remember him for his World Cup penalty-shootout antics and how he controlled the tempo in those moments.
It remains to be seen what happens next with Dibu and his club Aston Villa in the 2023-24 EPL season as they are performing extremely well as of now. They are sitting in 3rd place in the league table with Dibu putting in some extra-ordinary performances for his club as usual.