EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Spanish national team spent 106 minutes trying to score on Emiliano Martinez. For most of the World Cup final, it felt like they never would.
Martinez stopped everything. Ten saves, a World Cup final record. He played through a broken finger on his right hand. He made Spain’s relentless attack look ordinary. And after it was over, even the winning coach had to tip his cap.
“The match should have been decided quite a while earlier. But Emiliano Martínez prevented that from happening,” Spain manager Luis de la Fuente said after his team’s 1-0 win.
De la Fuente wasn’t being polite. He was stating facts. Spain threw 20 shots at Argentina’s goal, put 11 of them on target, and only broke through when Ferran Torres finally cracked the code in the 106th minute. Martinez had shut the door on everything before that.
One goal, 47 million people
Torres ended up as the hero, but he wasn’t interested in taking all the credit afterward.
“I think at the end, this goal was scored by 47 million people, not mine,” Torres said. “Neither from the rest of the team. Although we are far from our country, we did all we could to make them feel as close as possible.”
Spain outlasted Argentina by sheer volume. They kept pushing. Argentina’s defense got worn down — 24 fouls committed, a total of 45 combined fouls between both teams. The game got chippy. Argentina’s Lisandro Martinez had to leave with an injury. Lionel Messi sat on the bench afterward with a look that went viral instantly.
But the story of this game was Martinez. The Argentina goalkeeper gave his team a chance to repeat as world champions. He almost willed it into happening.
A near-perfect performance in a loss
Martinez’s showing will be remembered in Argentina for a long time, even if the result won’t be. He had no business stopping some of the shots he got to. He was diving full extension, getting fingertips on balls that looked destined for the back of the net. Then he’d get up and do it again.
The broken finger didn’t slow him down. It’s the kind of detail that gets mentioned in passing but probably deserves more attention. He played through pain against the best attacking team in the world and nearly stole a trophy.
Spain’s Torres finally ended it in extra time, but even he knew who the MVP of this game really was. It just wasn’t his teammate.
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