Emiliano Martinez: From penalties to mind games

SAFE HANDS: Argentina’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez celebrates after he saved a penalty during the shootout at the end of the World Cup final against France at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar. Pic: AP Photo/Petr David Josek

In psychology, the butterfly effect describes how small, seemingly insignificant moments can have huge, unforeseen long-term effects.

A butterfly flapping its wings and causing a typhoon on the other side of the world is an example. As is Brighton striker Neal Maupay accidentally inflicting a season-ending injury on Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno in June 2020 as the Premier League played out Project Restart after three months of pandemic lockdown.

That paved the way for Emiliano Martinez, who had been at Arsenal for a decade but made only six league appearances for them, to become part of their starting XI and end up, 911 days later, lifting the World Cup with Argentina on Sunday night. He was central to not only the team that squeezed past France on penalties in Qatar, but also the side that won last summer’s Copa America in Brazil, winning the Golden Glove — the award for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup, and for most clean sheets at Copa America — at both events.

Big players are made by big moments. With the World Cup final deep into stoppage time of extra time, an Argentina error defending a long ball gave Randal Kolo Muani a chance to grab victory for defending champions France… By holding his position, Martinez forces Kolo Muani to either lift the ball over him or beat him for power; not rushing out meant he cannot be dribbled around either.

As analysed by John Muller using John Harrison’s model in March, goalkeepers should “wait and react” in one-v-one scenarios when the shooter is closer to the edge of the penalty area.

Kolo Muani opts to try to shoot past him — the pressure cooker of added time and a World Cup final means players must rush their decisions even more than usual, but Martinez spreads himself incredibly well and fully extends his left leg to make the save.

In a starfish-like spread that increases his surface area and maximises his chances of touching the ball, he can get a big surface (left-foot instep) onto the ball to deflect it away from his goal and so prevent a rebound or the concession of a corner.

It is one of the saves of the tournament.

In the round of 16 against Australia two weeks ago, Martinez made a similar spread save late in second-half stoppage time to preserve a 2-1 lead. Argentina fail to defend a cross and it drops to Garang Kuol at the back post… … as the young forward swivels to control the ball, Martinez steps out to close the angle.

Again, this narrows the finishing options to: one — chipped finish, two — high finish to the near post, or three — a shot through the goalkeeper.

Under pressure, Kuol fires straight at Martinez. The Argentina and Aston Villa ’keeper repeatedly forces opponents to make the least optimal decisions by narrowing their options and then rushing them to execute one.

You may have heard the goalkeeping term “make yourself big” before — Martinez’s use of the spread against Kolo Muani and Kuol are perfect examples of that phenomenon.

Martinez’s consistency in big moments is borne out by the statistics — Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni had played seven different goalkeepers in his first 49 games in charge before settling on him as first choice.

Including Sunday’s World Cup final, Martinez has kept 17 clean sheets and conceded just 13 goals (excluding penalty shootouts) in 26 appearances for his country.

In penalty shootouts, Martinez is notably aggressive and disruptive to put pressure on the taker and encourage hesitation. And as we’ve seen time and again in recent years, it works — academic research shows that the longer players are forced to wait to take a penalty, the more likely they are to miss.

For every France penalty on Sunday, Martinez came all the way out to the spot and was presumably engaging in some verbal warfare — the referee had to force him back and he was eventually booked for his antics and delaying tactics.

“We’d have conversations about what you can do to maximise your chances (against penalties),” said former Aston Villa goalkeeper coach Neil Cutler when speaking to The Athletic about the Argentinian last month. “The plan, whoever took the penalty, was to get into their head.” 

Martinez has routinely been disruptive, loud and effective for Argentina in his three international penalty shoot-outs.

Firstly against Colombia in last summer’s Copa America semi-finals, after which Lionel Messi called him a “phenomenon”, and in the quarter-finals of this World Cup as they beat the Netherlands.

Cutler stressed how central this is to Martinez performing at his peak: “He’s so emotional, he’s driven, he’s typical South American. He’s so driven to win and improve every day. The point you need to get Emi to is when his confidence is verging on arrogance. I don’t like to see Emi play dull.” And in terms of technical ability, Martinez’s detail is fantastic.

His size (6ft 4in; 195 cm) means he does not need to dive early and usually Martinez makes his move as the opponent takes their penultimate step, not giving them time to change their mind.

But when he dives, Martinez puts his body weight initially through the opposite leg to the side he is diving but then initiates a power step, pushing off from the leg of the side he is diving to — in this case, his right leg — to generate extra force across the goal, but also propel him forward and closer to the approaching ball.

This use of power and smart footwork help Martinez consistently save penalties to either side of him and ensures he keeps one foot over the line as the ball is kicked, to stay within the game’s laws.

His reaction to saving Coman’s penalty - France’s second - would make you think Argentina had won the shootout already (it was only 1-1). Fist pumps. Kissing the shirt.

Then, when it was Aurelien Tchouameni’s turn for French penalty number three, Martinez took the ball from the young midfielder and threw it away at the final moment, delaying the kick and disrupting his routine. It is marginal but there were no such antics from opposite number Hugo Lloris when Argentina took their penalties, and the France captain made no attempt to secure the ball for his team-mates before they stepped up to take.

Martinez went the right way again — he guessed correctly on three of France’s four penalties — but did not need to make the save as Tchouameni dragged the shot wide.

“There could not have been a World Cup that I have dreamed of like this. I was calm during the penalties,” said Martinez after the game. These celebrations are not a reflection of emotional uncontrollability; they are all part of his mind games.

On their own, these actions, behaviours and details seem small, but add them together and they make a big difference.

In Martinez’s three penalty shootouts for Argentina, opponents have scored only seven times from 14 attempts, a conversion rate of 50 per cent.

Martinez has made a save against at least one of the first two takers in all three shootouts, too.

Dealing with aerial balls is challenging because it involves almost every attribute of goalkeeping — a combination of timing, technique and confidence, but making the right decisions at exactly the right times is equally important.

Martinez’s confidence is evident in how he handles long, lofted balls from deep with total domination. He takes an aggressive starting position a few yards from his line and isn’t afraid to come and challenge for the ball anywhere in his penalty area.

“I’m not being funny but no one catches more balls than me from open play,” Martinez told The Athletic in February 2021.

The 30-year-old is almost spot on. His 11 crosses stopped and 16.4 per cent rate of stopping crosses were both the best of any goalkeeper in the 2021 Copa America and his 13.8 per cent stop rate was fourth-best at this World Cup.

He was crucial to Argentina throughout their World Cup campaign, both in open play and at set pieces.

*This article originally appeared in The Athletic.