“The goalkeepers are there to appear at key moments and Back He always has,” said Nery Pumpido, Argentina’s goalkeeper at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, referring to the role played by his compatriot Emiliano Martínez in the penalty shootout won by the Albicelestes once morest the Netherlands (following a 2-2 win in 120 minutes ). The result put Lionel Messi’s team into the Qatar 2022 semifinals.
Argentina breathed, relieved, following the penalties that Messi put on track and that he secured Back Martinez, the other great hero. And it is not the first time that the 30-year-old Aston Villa goalkeeper has been the lifeguard of his team in a penalty shootout. He already did it once morest Colombia, in the semifinals of the Copa América 2021. He is the fashionable penalty saver, as in Italy 1990 was Sergio Goycochea, who took the place of Pumpido, injured, in the middle of the World Cup.
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for the daily The confidential, from Spain, in a note published this Sunday, “Martínez is an artist when it comes to decentering his rivals on penalties. Experts in soccer psychology define his techniques as ‘abusive and manipulative’”.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geC_pmfpRIc
‘Mental games’
The note, signed by Alberto Ramírez, says that “it was no coincidence” what Martínez did by stopping the first two Dutch charges to give Argentina a key advantage. He complements that “the Aston Villa goalkeeper is a specialist in this kind of practice who constantly practices, trains and rehearses, peppered with mental games at key moments, to drive the pitcher mad and achieve his goal. It is the story of a different goalkeeper, but one who shines from eleven meters”.
The confidential He reproduced part of the study made by a doctor in psychology, with whom he also spoke. The expert establishes whether the “tactics at the limit of the regulation” that the goalkeeper uses “to annoy his rivals” influence when they take penalties.
Anxiety and aggressiveness
“Geir Jordet, a professor at the Norwegian School of Sports Science in Norway, shared a series of tests on social networks that demonstrate how Back it is ‘the perfect machine’ when it comes to taking penalty takers to the extreme. This type of action negatively affects the concentration of footballers and they end up losing focus on their task. In addition, it also has consequences on their emotions, increases their anxiety and can even create some aggression, which also alters concentration,’ explains the psychology expert, ”says the information.
Although the goalkeeper, who came from Arsenal de Sarandí, affirms that he leaves everything to improvisation, when it comes to driving the penalty takers crazy, Jordet doubts that: “Emiliano uses all the possible techniques. I think it is a deliberate system, something that he himself plans.
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“Martínez uses an old ‘other football’ trick, visually distracting the penalty taker. Point to the side where they should shoot the penalty, little dance on the line to create confusion… There are many options in this field that can reduce the success of the penalty by up to 10%, according to various studies.
‘Abusive tactics’
But there is one aspect in which “he is an absolute colossus, it is when it comes to talking and intimidating his rivals, which in other sports is known as the Trash talking (Talking trash), especially widespread in the NBA. All this entails a delay in the launches, increasing the tension as the minutes pass since the maximum penalty was handed down”.
Al final The confidential asks Jordet, an expert in sports psychology, performance and suffocation under pressure, and skill development, a question: Should we applaud the cunning of Back or considering it an anti-sporting action that should be penalized?
This answers the psychologist Jordet: “It is a good question. Fairness is determined by the rules and by what the referees allow. In part, this type of behavior is natural in football. Penalties are a psychological game and goalkeepers are part of it. But, on the other hand, Martínez’s behavior is on the limit, they are extreme actions… Abusive and manipulative tactics. That goes once morest the behaviors that we usually see as acceptable in sport. It’s Machiavellian.” (D)
