Emiliano Martinez, a dreamer battles the odds to be a World Cup winner

It’s time for Emiliano Martinez and Argentina to send a thank you note to Neal Maupay. If not for Brighton striker accidentally inflicting a season-ending injury on Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno in June 2020, Martinez would have still been a peripheral figure let alone a world champion.Maupay’s challenge on Leno was so bad that the German had to be stretchered off and was subsequently ruled out for three months. That opened a passage for Martinez, whose career was going in the wrong direction. The Argentine had arrived at Arsenal from Independiente in 2010 but a decade later at the North London club, Martinez had only made six league and two Champions League appearances.When he came as a substitute to Leno, it was his first Premier League appearance for three years having spent time out on loan at Oxford United, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham, Wolves, Getafe and Reading. Martinez had admitted how he had spent time with a psychologist to keep his morale high during his low points.And when an opportunity presented itself, Martinez grabbed it with both hands. He could not prevent Brighton from winning in his 50 minutes appearance as Maupay scored the winner five minutes into added time, but helped Arsenal to FA Cup and FA Community Shield triumph.In three months’ time, his stock had risen as Martinez moved to fellow Premier League club Aston Villa in a transfer worth £20mn. In his first season at the club, he kept a club record 15 clean sheets in the Premier League, with Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni handing him an international debut on June 3, 2021 in a friendly against Chile.Scaloni had played seven different goalkeepers in his first 49 games in charge before settling on Martinez as first choice. And he has justified that trust in him as he came through in the big moments in Argentina’s march to third title in Qatar.There was the last-gasp save against Australia, shootout heroics against France and the Netherlands, and a stretching stop to deny Randal Kolo Muani deep into stoppage time of extra time in the final. The 30-year-old walked away with World Cup’s Golden Glove award for most clean sheets with three, like he did in La Albiceleste’s Copa America triumph in Brazil last summer.Martinez’s consistency in big moments is borne out by the statistics. 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 the penalty shootouts against France and the Netherlands, Martinez’s domineering antics played a key role. On Sunday, Martinez failed to stop three penalties off Kylian Mbappe, including one in the shootout, but the Argentine saved Kingsley Coman’s effort before Aurelian Tchouameni fired wide, leaving Gonzalo Montiel to convert the winning penalty.Apart from being strong in defending crosses, Martinez is known for his penalty-saving ability and playing mind games to unsettle spot kick-takers. He was crucial to Argentina throughout their World Cup campaign, both in open play and at set pieces, but he was at another level in shootouts.As Tchouameni walked up for his turn on Sunday, Martinez rolled the ball away from the Real Madrid midfielder, forcing him to have to walk over to collect it. An under-pressure Tchouameni dragged his penalty wide, as Martinez celebrated with a dance. His verbal warfare with French players and his delaying tactics earned him a yellow card, but the 6ft 5in would care less.In Martinez’s three penalty shootouts for Argentina, opponents have scored only seven times from 14 attempts, a conversion rate of 50 per cent. Lionel Messi had called him a "phenomenon” after his penalty shootouts heroics against Colombia in Copa America semi-finals, with coach Scaloni joining his captain in praising the goalkeeper. "Emi Martinez is a very positive guy and told his teammates he was going to save some penalties,” revealed Scaloni.After Argentina’s historic win, an emotional Martinez – who is fondly called as Dibu by his teammates after an animated character in the Argentine telenovela Mi familia es un dibujo, said: "We suffered a lot. We thought we were in control but they managed to come back. It was a very complicated game. Our destiny was to suffer. They had one last chance to win, luckily I was able to stop it with my foot. This is a moment I’ve always dreamed of living, I have no words for it. I left very young for England and I would like to dedicate this victory to my family.”"I did my thing, what I dreamed of,” Martínez said of his shootout trickery. "There could not have been a World Cup that I have dreamed of like this. I was calm during the penalties.”Martinez’s gamesmanship and his lewd celebration with the Golden Glove award after the final may have won him few fans, but there is no denying that the goalkeeper was the ultimate difference-maker in Argentina’s triumph.