Once again Emiliano Martinez, fondly known asDibu turned out to be the hero on Friday early morning (Indian time) in the crucial quarter-final of the ongoing Copa America in the USA. 

The man from Mar del Plata won two penalties in the shootout after the unpleasant 1-1 draw against Ecuador, especially after Lionel Messi missed the first penalty. 

Argentina now will play in the semif-final against the winner of Canada-Venezuela.

Messi was not seen in his rhythm, still, his creativity with the ball had a great impact on Argentine counterattacks every time. Even, Argentina missed a couple of opportunities created by Messi’s incisive and defense-splitting passes. 

Lisandro Martinez gave Argentina the lead in the 35th minute while Ecuador obtained the equalizer in the dying moments through Kevin Rodriguez.

However, after the match, Emiliano Martinez commented, “I told the boys that I was not ready to go home, even though we are world champions, champions of America, this group deserved to continue, we have been locked up for 35 days.” 

Emiliano who visited Kolkata last year was seen celebrating with his 25 teammates in a round in which they jumped and celebrated qualifying for the semi-finals on the battered playing field of the NRG stadium.

Martinez won six consecutive penalty shootouts, four of them with the Argentine national team. Sergio Goycoechea, who suffered in this same stadium now as a television commentator, won five with the Albiceleste. Both of them, for example, stopped eight shots.

Ecuador’s Spanish coach had an interesting comment in the post-match media conference. He smilingly said, “Argentina is not invincible, but I should say Dibu is invincible.”