Emiliano Martínez has done it again. Imperious during the penalty shootout, the Argentina goalkeeper stopped two Ecuadorian shots to send his country to the semi-finals of the Copa America (1-1, 4-2 on penalties), Thursday July 4 in Houston (United States).
And Argentina needed it, as Lionel Messi missed the first attempt by sending his panenka onto the crossbar.
Argentina is purring
Borrowed, Argentina took a while to get into their quarter-final against Ecuador, despite having possession largely in their favour. The Ecuadorians, for their part, were much sharper and quickly projected themselves towards Martinez’s goal. Nevertheless, the Argentinians opened the scoring with their first shot on target, Lisandro Martinez deflecting a corner taken by Messi with a header and extended by Alexis Mac Allister (35th).
In a game starved of chances, with just two shots on target from each side, it took until the 61st minute for Ecuador to have a chance to come back into the game, after a penalty was awarded rather generously for a handball by Rodrigo De Paul. But Ecuadorian star Enner Valencia’s shot, despite wrong-footing the Argentinian goalkeeper, went off the post, leaving Argentina one step closer to the semi-finals.
Ecuador equalizes in added time
The Ecuadorian team did not give up, however. And in the 91st minute, Kevin Rodriguez managed to equalize with a header, a goal that was finally validated by video assistance despite an Ecuadorian player being offside. Ecuador could even have reached the semi-finals, which it has not been to since 1993, with a last chance at the end of added time, in the 95th minute, but Jordy Caicedo’s header ultimately did not find the target.
Back to back, the two teams then headed to penalties, this Copa America not offering extra time before the final. And in this little game, despite Messi’s initial miss, “Dibu” Martínez’s Argentina proved to be the strongest.
Following the Argentinian captain’s off-target Panenka, Emiliano Martinez pushed back shots from Angel Mena and then Alan Minda one after the other, while Julian Alvarez for Argentina, then Alexis Mac Allister and Nicolas Otamendi succeeded in their attempts.
READ ALSO. Copa America: Brazil will face Uruguay in quarter-finals without Vinicius, after another draw
The Argentines will meet the winner of the Venezuela-Canada match in the semi-finals on Tuesday, July 9.
2024-07-05 05:26:07
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