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.
Yet just after 10pm in Houston, they were on the brink of elimination, stunned by Ecuador and down on penalties after Lionel Messi missed, until goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saved the day.
Argentina led 1-0 for most of a tense match but never dominated the scoreline. And in second-half stoppage time, Ecuador equalised, shocking the 70,000 fans at NRG Stadium and 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 the ball directly into the centre of the goal, hitting the crossbar and ending up in the roof of the net.
But Martinez, the hero of the 2022 World Cup final and perhaps the world’s best penalty-taker, responded with a powerful save from Ecuador’s first attempt.
Messi, arm in arm with his teammate Cristian Romero, launched his first goal towards Martínez, as if to say a relieved “thank you.”
After Julián Álvarez scored to give Argentina the lead in the penalty shootout, Martínez made another remarkable save, diving to his right and deflecting the ball away with a powerful left-footed shot.
Martinez, who is both loved and despised for his showmanship, his game sense and his antics, jumped off the pitch, turned to the fans behind the goal and danced.
At that point, Ecuador no longer had a chance. The Albiceleste had recovered their magic. Alexis Mac Allister gave the Albiceleste a 2-0 lead.
Ecuador would convert its next two penalties, but Gonzalo Montiel, who scored the decisive goal in Qatar 19 months ago, kept his cool to give Argentina a 3-1 lead. And Nicolás Otamendi converted his penalty to book Argentina’s place in the semi-finals, where they will face the winner of Friday’s match between Canada and Venezuela.
For most of the match, save for a few minutes, it looked like they were on their way to the semi-finals. But they never looked particularly good. Martinez kept his run of several games without scoring intact early in the first half with a great save.
Argentina finally scored with their first shot on target. Mac Allister took advantage of a Messi corner at the near post and sent it towards the far post, where Lisandro Martínez was waiting cleverly to head the ball into the back of the net.
However, Argentina’s attack was uncharacteristically quiet for most of the evening. Messi, who had overcome an injury sustained nine days earlier against Chile, was not at his usual level.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Ecuador won a penalty, but Enner Valencia hit the post after sending Emi Martínez the wrong way.
However, the underdogs defeated the defending champions and eventually got their well-deserved equaliser in added time.
A couple of minutes later, they almost defeated Argentina with a second goal. A header from Jordy Caicedo, without anyone having thought about it, went wide.
The quarter-finals therefore skipped extra time and were decided on penalties, as is the case in all Copa América qualifying matches before the final if there is a tie.
But in the penalty shootout, Argentina had a gigantic and unbreakable advantage of 1.96 metres: the man they call “Dibu”, the late-blooming goalkeeper who allowed Messi to conquer the world on December 18, 2022 and who reproduced similar feats on Thursday night.
His play may not have worked, but his size and instincts devastated Ecuador and rescued Argentina from the abyss.
After Otamendi sealed the victory, Messi raised his right fist againAnd soon, the Argentines were singing and dancing again.