{"id":534488,"date":"2026-07-20T02:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/534488\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T02:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:48:11","slug":"argentina-player-shoves-rivals-in-ugly-post-match-scuffle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/534488\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina player shoves rivals in ugly post-match scuffle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emiliano Martinez was cool as could be in goal, even as impatience and frustration brewed among his fiery Argentine teammates. Playing with a broken finger, he broke a World Cup final<\/a> record for saves.<\/p>\n

The star goalkeeper just couldn’t hold up after Argentina’s unyielding, ruthless aggression steered La Albiceleste into a red card and left them a man down in extra time.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s Ferran Torres smashed the ball past Mart\u00ednez for his first goal<\/a> of the World Cup to make it 1-0 in the 106th minute, enough today to send the team past Lionel Messi<\/a> and Argentina for its first title since 2010.<\/p>\n

Martinez, the World Cup-winning keeper from 2022, again used his imposing 6-foot-5 frame to stand tall with a record 11 saves and kept Argentina’s bid for a second straight World Cup title alive.<\/p>\n

Leandro Paredes was sent off after fulltime for his violent behaviour. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

His teammates spent much of the match chasing Spain around the pitch. And while Argentina’s pugnacious style served it well rallying from deficits throughout this tournament, it backfired today.<\/p>\n

The first sign of trouble came when Leandro Paredes nearly earned two yellow cards on one play. Officials missed him shoving Rodri in the back in the 52nd minute, but he was carded for pushing down Dani Olmo during the testy confrontation that followed.<\/p>\n

Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez’s frustration proved more costly. He got a first yellow card for dissent arguing a possible foul call in the 82nd minute. He was sent off with another yellow 11 minutes later for a reckless play that sent Spain defender Pau Cubarsi cartwheeling into the air.<\/p>\n

Enzo Fernandez got his marching orders for a second yellow card late in normal time against Spain. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

With even less help in front of him, Marti\u0301nez finally failed to fend off the onslaught.<\/p>\n

Spain kept attacking, kept shooting and broke through with a goal that sparked a wild celebration in the stands with fans dancing and hugging and waving the flag ahead of the eventual coronation.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Leandro Paredes of Argentina pushes Gavi of Spain to the ground resulting in a brawl and a red card for Paredes after the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Things were briefly chippy between the teams post-match, and Paredes was at the centre, at various points shoving Eric Garc\u00eda and Gavi. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was held back by a Spain player while appearing to shout at someone, and Nicolas Otamendi exchanged words with several Spanish players, including Rodri.<\/p>\n

Argentina then turned their back on the trophy presentation as they watched their own fans in the stands. <\/p>\n

\u2018Dibu\u2019 kept Argentina alive with an all-time performance<\/p>\n

Nicknamed Dibu because of his resemblance to an Argentine animated character, Martinez became a national hero for his stunning save to deny Randal Kolo Muani a late goal in the final against France at Qatar 2022. Even with an injured hand, Martinez may have played better in this year’s tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should have put the game to bed much earlier. We had many chances,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “But Dibu was nothing short of exceptional. It was thanks to Dibu\u2019s saves, and this goes to show that winning is very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Emiliano<\/p>\n

Emiliano Martinez #23 of Argentina looks on during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Consider, his stop in the 92nd minute that could have shifted some momentum toward Argentina.<\/p>\n

He made a two-handed save of La Roja’s Nico Williams\u2019 line drive in second-half stoppage time from near the top of the box that kept the game scoreless.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez was sent off one minute later.<\/p>\n

Marti\u0301nez starred today much as he did in 2022.<\/p>\n

After a series of corner kicks for Spain, Rodrigo De Paul got a header on net, only to be denied by Mart\u00ednez in the 67th minute.<\/p>\n

On his 10th save of the game, he denied Lamine Yamal on a free kick in extra time that left the teenager covering his mouth in astonishment that he missed.<\/p>\n

Torres scored in the second half of extra time against Argentina. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

Martinez broke a finger on his right hand in May during a Europe League game with Aston Villa. He said he delayed surgery so that he could be in net \u2014 surely a decision Argentina appreciated.<\/p>\n

Martinez started every World Cup game and had two clean sheets in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria and a 2-0 win over Austria in group stage games.<\/p>\n

While Messi received the bulk of the credit, Martinez carried Argentina all the way to Spain’s 20th shot of the game and the brink of a second straight World Cup title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emiliano Martinez was cool as could be in goal, even as impatience and frustration brewed among his fiery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2966,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-534488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}