Due to the sanction imposed by FIFA on Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez after the gestures after the victory against Chile and the blow to the camera in the defeat against Colombia in Barranquilla, the World champion and two-time American champion goalkeeper will not be able to say present in any of the matches of this double date. As a result, there were three names that the coaching staff led by Luis Scaloni first considered to call for the games against Venezuela and Bolivia: Gerónimo Rulli, Juan Musso and Walter Benítez.
Finally, from the technical direction of the Senior National Team with Scaloni and company, it was decided that the starter in the first of these two games will be the Pincha goalkeeper, who will have to defend the three suits against Venezuela, as a visitor, next Thursday 18.
The absence of the drawing
Since he took over the goal and became the starting goalkeeper of the Argentine National Team, after Franco Armani’s COVID condition, Emiliano Martínez has never been absent from the National Team in two consecutive games.
The last time that the Aston Villa goalkeeper did not defend the three sticks was in the friendly against Costa Rica, where with Walter Benítez he was the starter in a match in which the Scaloneta beat the Ticos by 3 to 1.
Argentina’s last performance without the player from Mar del Plata, taking out that match against the Central American team, must go back to September 23, 2022, when just 2 months before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Gerónimo Rulli took charge of the Albiceleste goal in a friendly against Honduras, and that Argentina was left with the victory, keeping a clean sheet, after a final 3 to 0.
Beyond being present against Honduras, to find Rulli’s last start in which there were points at stake, you have to go back to March 29, 2022, when the National Team tied 1-1 against Ecuador as a visitor. In addition to playing with the majors, he was called up to the Rio 2016 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games.