Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has blamed The Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal for the bad-tempered nature of their Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter-final clash last night.
Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz dished out 15 yellow cards in the feisty encounter as Argentina won 4-3 on penalties after full-time and extra-time ended 2-2.
Tackles went flying and both sets of players engaged in off-the-ball shenanigans in one of the most undisciplined displays in World Cup history, and Martinez claimed it was all started off by Van Gaal’s pre-match utterances.
The Aston Villa star even took a screenshot on his phone of a report in which Van Gaal was quoted as saying ‘If we have to go to penalties, I think that’s something that is now in our favour’.
“They talked a lot of nonsense before the game. Their coach was saying they were favourites if it went to penalties and that they wanted to erase the memory of 2014,” Martinez said.
“He said it, I saw it, I screenshot it and I saved it. I showed Martin [Tocalli, Argentina goalkeeping coach] and my psychologist and I said to them ‘right, he’s lit the fuse now’. I saved that article on my phone and I looked at it for motivation every day in the run-up to the game.”
Martinez was the hero last night, pulling off saves from Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis in the shootout to bury Dutch hopes of revenge for the 2014 World Cup semi-final defeat.
He did a little taunting dance after his second penalty save, and the whole Argentina squad celebrated in the faces of the Dutch at the end of the shootout.
“I’ve learned that in football you do your talking on the field. They talked a lot before the game and that gave me an extra spring in my step,” Martinez noted.
“You can’t talk before a game like that and say you’re going to win. That made me stronger, and after the game I told them so. I was just focused on shutting them up and thanks to God I was able to save two penalties. It could have been more.”
Argentina will be up against Croatia in the semi-finals on Tuesday, after the Russia 2018 runners-up saw off favourites Brazil on penalties yesterday.
