World Cup: What mind games did Argentina's Emiliano Martinez use vs France? | OneFootball

Emiliano Martinez wasn’t afraid to play dirty in his mission to secure the World Cup for Argentina.

After the most chaotic 120 minutes of football at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, Argentina and France‘s clash for the ages went all the way to a penalty shootout in which Martinez was always going to be the favourite.

The Aston Villa shot-stopper had been there, done that and got the postcard when it came to bailing out Argentina, and his ability to channel football’s dark arts has been a key part of that.

Why is Martinez so effective in penalty shootouts?

Martinez started the trend last summer in the semi-finals of the Copa America when he trash-talked the Colombian players on the way to saving three spot-kicks in an Argentinean triumph.

Then, when Argentina’s World Cup quarter-final went the distance this winter, he was up to his usual tricks as he revelled in beating away efforts from Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis.

So although there’s never any way of telling who will win a penalty shootout before a ball has even been kicked, there was nevertheless a quiet acknowledgement that Argentina had a major advantage in the final by way of simply having Martinez.

While Hugo Lloris is not renowned for his penalty-saving abilities and ultimately conceded every single one of Argentina’s spot-kicks, Martinez made a superb save from Kingsley Coman and more than played his part in Aurélien Tchouaméni’s misfire.

You may already have seen some of the mind games that Martinez played in order to achieve that dominate performance between the sticks, but there was more to it than simply throwing the ball away and busting out a cheeky dance.

What mind games did Martinez use vs France?

Rather, thanks to the eagle-eyed work of Geir Jordet – who is a professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and an expert in football psychology – the full extent of Martinez’s mental warfare has been shown to the world.

In a fascinating Twitter thread which is already amassing impressive numbers, Jordet has walked fans through every little behaviour and tactic that Martinez deploys in order to gain an edge.

From asserting his authority over Lloris before the shootout has even started to picking up a yellow card come France’s final penalty, it’s a magnificent dissection of what is either pure genius or poor sportsmanship depending on how you view it.

Either way, seeing everything that went into Martinez’s mind games is simply engrossing, so be sure to check out Jordet’s analysis of how the destination of the World Cup trophy was decided.

Did Martinez’s mind games win the World Cup?

Well, they say that it’s the little things a lot of the time and boy did Martinez’s attention to detail play a massive role in Argentina conquering the planet.

There’s every reason to think that a goalkeeper with less confidence and less of an appetite for gamesmanship would have wilted under the floodlights and potentially left the door ajar for France to retain their crown.

While that might sound dramatic, it’s ultimately true, because it was Martinez’s save from Coman – which was aided by the foundation of subtle mind games – that turned the tide and set the wheels in motion for Argentina’s victory.

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