Emiliano Martinez, Argentina’s goalkeeper has admitted that the world is against his country in the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Following their 3-0 victory against Croatia on Tuesday 13th of December 2022, the Aston Villa shot-stopper, Emiliano Martinez, said in a post match interview, “everyone wanted Argentina to lose on their path to the 2022 World Cup final”.
“Everyone wanted us to lose… It’s us against the rest of the world. This group of 26 players are all fighters and we’ve got 45 million Argentinians behind us.”
Argentina’s 36-game streak of unbeaten games came to an end in their opening group match against Saudi Arabia, which immediately cast doubt on their prospects. The next match was against Mexico, and if they lost, they would have likely been eliminated after two games.
However, they managed to win and proceeded to beat Poland to continue to the round of 16, where they faced Australia and won by a score of 2-1. Lionel Scaloni’s team then moved on to the quarterfinals, where they once more triumphed over the Netherlands in a penalty shootout by 4 goals to 3.
With a string of convincing victories, they advanced all the way to the semifinals. On Tuesday, despite a sticky opening half-hour against Croatia, they advanced to the final, with Lionel Messi once again playing a key role in his team’s 3-0 victory.
The goalie (Emiliano Martinez) has been essential to Argentina’s success in the tournament in Qatar, most notably stopping two penalties in a shootout victory over the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
Emiliano Martinez continued to play well in their 3-0 semi-final victory over Croatia, ensuring that the Albicleste will get a chance to compete in the final match on Sunday 18th of December, 2022.
Since losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in their group stage opening, Argentina has rebounded admirably, and Emiliano Martinez thinks the setback motivated the players to work harder and disprove their naysayers.
The chance to see Messi in his fifth and most likely final World Cup has been a tremendous draw, drawing more Argentina supporters to Qatar than any other nation.
Following the 35 year old outstanding performance against Croatia on Tuesday, Martinez batted down any claims that the captain was experiencing groin pain.
Emiliano Martinez has also dismissed worries that Argentina captain Lionel Messi may be injured and assured that the player will be ready for the final game.
“No, no,” he retorted, “he’s not hurt. It was a difficult game for him because we played Holland for 120 minutes, but you can tell he wants to win every game. Physically, he is excellent and consistently wins the game’s Man of the Match award.”
What’s next for Argentina?
Lionel Scoloni’s men and the country’s captain Lionel Messi will face the defending champions France in the FIFA World Cup on Sunday 18th of December 2022, at the Lusail Stadium by 20:00 pm after Les Blues defeated Morocco to reach the final, as Argentina will be looking forward to securing a victory against Didier Deschamps’ men to become the new World Champion.
