In psychology, the butterfly effect describes how small, seemingly insignificant moments can have huge, unforeseen long-term effects.
A butterfly flapping its wings and causing a typhoon on the other side of the world is an example. As is Brighton striker Neal Maupay accidentally inflicting a season-ending injury on Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno in June 2020 as the Premier League played out Project Restart after three months of pandemic lockdown.
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That paved the way for Emiliano Martinez, who had been at Arsenal for a decade but made only six league appearances for them before moving to Aston Villa, to become part of their starting XI and end up, 911 days later, lifting the World Cup with Argentina last night. He was central to not only the team that squeezed past France on penalties in Qatar, but also the side that won last summer’s Copa America in Brazil, winning the Golden Glove — the award for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup, and for most clean sheets at Copa America — at both events.
GO DEEPER
Remembering Emi Martinez's debut for Oxford in League Two
So, what does Martinez bring to Argentina?
The spread
Big players are made by big moments. With the World Cup final deep into stoppage time of extra time, an Argentina error defending a long ball gave Randal Kolo Muani a chance to grab victory for defending champions France…
By holding his position, Martinez forces Kolo Muani to either lift the ball over him (curved black arrow) or beat him for power (white arrow); not rushing out meant he cannot be dribbled around either.
As analysed by John Muller using John Harrison’s model in March, goalkeepers should “wait and react” in one-v-one scenarios when the shooter is closer to the edge of the penalty area.
Kolo Muani opts to try to shoot past him — the pressure cooker of added time and a World Cup final means players must rush their decisions even more than usual, but Martinez spreads himself incredibly well and fully extends his left leg to make the save.
In a starfish-like spread that increases his surface area and maximises his chances of touching the ball, he can get a big surface (left-foot instep) onto the ball to deflect it away from his goal and so prevent a rebound or the concession of a corner.
It is one of the saves of the tournament.
What a guy!! So proud!! Champion of the world!! 🥹 pic.twitter.com/NtJyinYEJm
— Neil Cutler (@Bigcuts) December 18, 2022
In the round of 16 against Australia two weeks ago, Martinez made a similar spread save late in second-half stoppage time to preserve a 2-1 lead.
Argentina fail to defend a cross and it drops to Garang Kuol at the back post…
… as the young forward swivels to control the ball, Martinez steps out to close the angle.
Again, this narrows the finishing options to: one — chipped finish (black arrow), two — high finish to the near post (white arrow), or three — a shot through the goalkeeper (red arrow).
Under pressure, Kuol fires straight at Martinez. The Argentina and Aston Villa ’keeper repeatedly forces opponents to make the least optimal decisions by narrowing their options and then rushing them to execute one.
You may have heard the goalkeeping term “make yourself big” before — Martinez’s use of the spread against Kolo Muani and Kuol are perfect examples of that phenomenon.
When it’s impossible to predict the direction of the strike, the goalkeeper will cover as much of the target as possible by moving forward quickly and keeping their legs, arms and head between the ball and the middle of the goal.
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This should not only decrease the area of the goal for a player to shoot past them but should also decrease the saving area for the keeper, as well.
Martinez’s consistency in big moments is borne out by the statistics — Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni had played seven different goalkeepers in his first 49 games in charge before settling on him as first choice.
Including Sunday’s World Cup final, Martinez has kept 17 clean sheets and conceded just 13 goals (excluding penalty shootouts) in 26 appearances for his country.
Campeones del mundo 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷❤️❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/jBr7GnRkLG
— Emi Martínez (@emimartinezz1) December 18, 2022
The penalty shootout
In penalty shootouts, Martinez is notably aggressive and disruptive to put pressure on the taker and encourage hesitation. And as we’ve seen time and again in recent years, it works — academic research shows that the longer players are forced to wait to take a penalty, the more likely they are to miss.
For every France penalty last night, Martinez came all the way out to the spot and was presumably engaging in some verbal warfare — the referee had to force him back and he was eventually booked for his antics and delaying tactics.
“We’d have conversations about what you can do to maximise your chances (against penalties),” said former Aston Villa goalkeeper coach Neil Cutler when speaking to The Athletic about the Argentinian last month.
“The plan, whoever took the penalty, was to get into their head.”
Martinez has routinely been disruptive, loud and effective for Argentina in his three international penalty shoot-outs.
Firstly against Colombia in last summer’s Copa America semi-finals, after which Lionel Messi called him a “phenomenon”, and in the quarter-finals of this World Cup as they beat the Netherlands.
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Cutler stressed how central this is to Martinez performing at his peak: “He’s so emotional, he’s driven, he’s typical South American. He’s so driven to win and improve every day. The point you need to get Emi to is when his confidence is verging on arrogance. I don’t like to see Emi play dull.”
And in terms of technical ability, Martinez’s detail is fantastic.
His size (6ft 4in; 195cm) means he does not need to dive early and usually Martinez makes his move as the opponent takes their penultimate step, not giving them time to change their mind.
But when he dives, Martinez puts his body weight initially through the opposite leg to the side he is diving — see his left leg here when diving to the right to save Kingsley Coman’s penalty last night…
… but then initiates a power step, pushing off from the leg of the side he is diving to — in this case, his right leg — to generate extra force across the goal, but also propel him forward and closer to the approaching ball.
This use of power and smart footwork help Martinez consistently save penalties to either side of him and ensures he keeps one foot over the line as the ball is kicked, to stay within the game’s laws.
His reaction to saving Coman’s penalty — France’s second — would make you think Argentina had won the shootout already (it was only 1-1). Fist pumps. Kissing the shirt.
Perhaps he has read the academic literature that finds celebrations for saving or scoring penalties is linked to increased team success in shootouts.
Then, when it was Aurelien Tchouameni’s turn for French penalty number three, Martinez took the ball from the young midfielder and threw it away at the final moment, delaying the kick and disrupting his routine.
It is marginal but there were no such antics from opposite number Hugo Lloris when Argentina took their penalties, and the France captain made no attempt to secure the ball for his team-mates before they stepped up to take.
Martinez went the right way again — he guessed correctly on three of France’s four penalties — but did not need to make the save as Tchouameni dragged the shot wide.
If the goalkeeping was David Seaman, the dancing was David Brent:
“There could not have been a World Cup that I have dreamed of like this. I was calm during the penalties,” said Martinez after the game. These celebrations are not a reflection of emotional uncontrollability; they are all part of his mind games.
On their own, these actions, behaviours and details seem small, but add them together and they make a big difference.
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In Martinez’s three penalty shootouts for Argentina, opponents have scored only seven times from 14 attempts, a conversion rate of 50 per cent.
Martinez has made a save against at least one of the first two takers in all three shootouts, too.
| Opponent | Player | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
Kylian Mbappe | Scored | |
Kingsley Coman | Saved | |
Aurelien Tchouameni | Missed | |
Randal Kolo Muani | Scored | |
Virgil van Dijk | Saved | |
Steven Berghuis | Saved | |
Teun Koopmeiners | Scored | |
Wout Weghorst | Scored | |
Luuk de Jong | Scored | |
Juan Cuadrado | Scored | |
Davinson Sanchez | Saved | |
Yerry Mina | Saved | |
Miguel Borja | Scored | |
Edwin Cardona | Saved |
Crosses
Dealing with aerial balls is challenging because it involves almost every attribute of goalkeeping — a combination of timing, technique and confidence, but making the right decisions at exactly the right times is equally important.
You only have a split second to decide whether you stay or go and must make your move (or not) as soon as the cross is hit. Then you have to judge the trajectory of the ball and be aware of where surrounding players are located, before finding a route to catch it at the highest point possible. All with bodies in the way.
It all makes this particularly difficult to do at set pieces.
Argentina’s zonal line of three provides aerial cover but also leaves space for Martinez to have a clear run at the ball…
… so that he can claim without pressure…
… and immediately launch a counter-attack.
Martinez’s confidence is evident in how he handles long, lofted balls from deep with total domination. He takes an aggressive starting position a few yards from his line and isn’t afraid to come and challenge for the ball anywhere in his penalty area.
See this take in the World Cup semi-final against Croatia, starting on the edge of the six-yard box before claiming the ball almost 12 yards from goal…
Martinez is incredibly effective at claiming the ball at the highest point of his jump, getting well above the heads of team-mates and opponents to take the ball cleanly.
He cleverly takes short steps to reposition and prepare as the cross is delivered, before making big strides to attack the cross at pace…
… and then laying on it to kill some time.
“I’m not being funny but no one catches more balls than me from open play,” Martinez told The Athletic in February 2021.
The 30-year-old is almost spot on.
His 11 crosses stopped and 16.4 per cent rate of stopping crosses were both the best of any goalkeeper in the 2021 Copa America and his 13.8 per cent stop rate was fourth-best at this World Cup.
This take against the Netherlands was pure Martinez — the timing of his exit, claiming at the highest point despite pressure from the opposition striker Luuk de Jong…
… before squaring up to him.
Former Arsenal goalkeeping coach Gerry Peyton has said Martinez is a “natural” at defending crosses and ex-Wolves goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, a team-mate in 2015-16 during one of the Argentinian’s six loan spells while at Arsenal, has described the now-world champion as “really good” when defending his box.
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A goalkeeper’s size and reach can give them an advantage when dealing with high balls, but more important than any physical trait is positioning. Martinez has both.
Proper positioning allows a goalkeeper to extend their range and minimise the distance between themselves and their defenders, which helps clarify the decision of when to come versus when to stay closer to your line. It helps with your timing and being able to attack the ball at its highest point.
Martinez has great hands, exceptional footwork and timing and unwavering bravery when balls are pumped into the box. His aerial ability gives confidence to the defence because they know that any pass in and around the box belongs to him and he can bail them out.
He was crucial to Argentina throughout their World Cup campaign, both in open play and at set pieces.
GO DEEPER
Villa must show Martinez they can match his ambitions after World Cup success
(Top photo: Buda Mendes/Getty Images)