For most of Thursday night’s 90 minutes, Argentina looked comfortable. For more than 360 minutes in this Copa America 2024, the reigning champions had not conceded a single goal.
However, shortly after 10 p.m. in Houston, they were on the brink of elimination, stunned by Ecuador and losing on penalties, until goalkeeper Emi Martinez saved the day.
Argentina led for most of a tense match, but never dominated the scoreboard. And in second-half added time, Ecuador equalised, sending the match straight to penalties.
In the penalty shootout, Messi, after a long and lonely walk from the centre of the field to the penalty spot, launched a shot straight into the centre of the goal that hit the crossbar.
But Martinez, the hero of the 2022 World Cup final and previous penalty shootouts, responded with a powerful save on Ecuador’s first attempt.
Messi, arm in arm with his teammate Cristian Romero, threw his first goal towards Martínez to thank him.
After Julian Alvarez scored Argentina’s second try, Martinez made another remarkable save, diving to the right with a left-footed shot. He turned to a delighted crowd and danced.
Alexis Mac Allister gave Argentina a 2-0 lead. Ecuador scored to make it 2-1. But Gonzalo Montiel, who scored the decisive goal in Qatar, kept his cool and gave Argentina a commanding 3-1 lead.
And after Ecuador scored again, Nicolás Otamendi converted, sparking relieved celebrations.