The world champions trembled. But they will be in the last four of the Copa America 2024. Facing Ecuador in the quarter-finals, the Argentinians had to go through the penalty shootout to qualify for the semi-finals. Once again, Emiliano Martinez shone in this exercise, pushing back two Ecuadorian attempts. Lionel Messi, for his part, missed his penalty.
It was the latter’s teammates who opened the scoring through Lisandro Martinez in the 35th minute, but Ecuador came back to level with them at the worst possible moment, in added time (90 + 1′). The Ecuadorians, sharper throughout the match, had the opportunity to reach the semi-finals, a first since 1993, but Ener Valencia hit the post from Martinez with a penalty obtained in the 59th minute of the match. At the end of the match (90 + 5′) they also had a last chance through Jordy Caicedo but he missed the target.
Emiliano Martinez once again hero of the penalty shootout
With no extra time before the Copa final, the two teams headed straight to penalties. The Albiceleste captain kicked off the session with a panenka on the crossbar. In the process, Emiliano Martinez kept out shots from Angel Mena and Alan Minda in quick succession, while on the Argentinian side Julian Alvarez and Alexis Mac Allister managed to score. It was Benfica Lisbon defender Nicolas Otamendi who scored the decisive penalty and qualified the Argentinians (1-1, 4-2). Emiliano Martinez was voted man of the match and was relieved to have qualified: “I told the guys that I wasn’t ready to go home. They weren’t either. We are world and (South) American champions, this team deserved to continue.”
In the semi-finals, Argentina, the defending champion and 15-time winner of the competition, will face the winner of Venezuela-Canada.
