Argentina national team star Rodrigo De Paul called for pride in what his team is achieving in the South American Football Championship (Copa America 2024), currently being held in the United States, while praising the performance of his teammate, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Argentina advanced to the semi-finals of the Copa America after beating Ecuador 4-2 on penalties on Thursday evening local time (Friday morning GMT) in the quarter-finals of the competition.
The original time ended in a 1-1 draw, so the two teams resorted to penalty kicks, which ultimately smiled in favor of Argentina, thanks to the brilliance of Martinez, who saved two penalty kicks from the Ecuadorian team, making up for the penalty kick that was wasted by his teammate Lionel Messi, the team captain, who hit the crossbar.
“We knew the game was going to be like this,” De Paul said after the match. “We would have liked to play better with the ball, but there were many things that didn’t allow us to do that.”
“The team ran and scored a goal to take the lead. There was a great performance from everyone,” De Paul added in his statements, which were reported by the Argentine Football Association’s official website.
“We should be proud of everything we achieve,” the Argentine player stressed.
“We had some chances, it was a close game. They equalised in the last moments, it was really unfortunate. We were born to suffer, but the whole country was with us,” De Paul explained.
De Paul praised Martinez, saying: “What he does is crazy. He deserves it, he loves this atmosphere. He gives us a lot of security and peace of mind.”
“In these important cases, Dibo (Martinez) is always there,” De Paul concluded.
The Argentine national team (the title holder) has set a date in the semi-finals with the winner of the match between Venezuela and Canada, as the world champions aspire to win the Copa America for the 16th time and to hold the record as the team with the most titles, which it currently shares with the Uruguay national team.
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