Argentina world champions: A sports psychologist reveals Dibu Martínez’s mind games to win penalties against France

In what was arguably one of the best finals in World Cup history, Argentina drew 3-3 against France in full 120 minutes and won on penalties 4-2 Emiliano Dibu Martínez He was one of the great architects of the Argentine triumph and his behavior in the final round has been analyzed by geir jordeta football psychologist and professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

There were several scenarios where Dibu had already proved to be a specialist in stopping penalties. The first time he increased his figure was before Colombia for the semi-finals of the 2021 Copa América, where he stopped his runs against Davinson Sanchez, Yerri Mina and Edwin Cardona. “I’m sorry, but I’ll eat you, brother”were the words that the goalkeeper uttered to distract the Colombian players and that went down in history.

The previous one before the final was in the match against the Netherlands. After a 2-2 draw with the Dutch in what was a closely contested match, the first leg had to be defined in 12-point shots. Virgil Van Dijk and Steven Berghuis fell victim to the Mar del Plata man parades.

The Qatar 2022 Final had it all. On the one hand, great dominance of Lionel Scaloni’s team, who took the lead at half-time thanks to goals from Lionel Scaloni Lionel Messi -penalty- and Ángel Di María. The second half of the match seemed to be under control, but in a burst of 2 minutes it appeared kylian mbappe and tied the game. In extra time, with another goal from Messi, Argentina took the lead again, but once again Mbappé gave France parity.

The new world champion had to be defined on penalties and Dibu Martínez had key interference. First of all because he stopped a penalty kick, but he performed very important mental maneuvers to give confidence to his teammates and counter the quality of the French.

Dibu Martínez mind games in the penalty shootout

In a Twitter thread, geir jordet He detailed point by point each of the mind games Dibu played. The first thing he explains is that the Aston Villa goalkeeper quickly went to the area where the settlement was to take place and waited for Lloris to welcome him as if it were his home.

Both the French captain and Mbappé, who converted the three penalties kicked, he shook their hand and treated them with a warm attitude. Jordet said this causes people to let their guard down and be vulnerable to his next taunts.

One factor that Dibu takes into consideration is the referee. Because of this he always starts out slow and analyzes how far he can go with his mind games. On Mbappe’s penalty, Szymon Marciniak asked him to check the position of the ball and the Pole kindly agreed.

On the penalty taken by Kingsley Coman, he elaborated on his attitude a little more and put pressure on the Bayern Munich player and asked Marcianik to check the position of the ball again, who again agreed to his request. After saving the penalty, his celebration was wild to show all his confidence, have a positive impact on his teammates and negatively influence his rivals.

It was Aurelien Tchouaméni’s turn and Martínez has already pulled off all his tricks. He got the ball first and left Marciniak and Tchouameni waiting, raised the whole crowd to cheers and instead of handing the ball into the hands of the young French talent, he cleared the ball. Despite all this, the Polish referee didn’t book Dibu and increased his authority inside the area.

After all the actions he has done, he knows that Lloris can choose to do something similar and so that this does not happen, he grabs the ball and gives it to Leandro Paredes, who executes and scores his penalty.

Dibu was instrumental in getting the World Cup. His presence on penalties, his fundamental save on Kolo Muani when the second extra time was about to end and all the confidence he transmitted to his teammates throughout the tournament were of vital importance for the cup to remain on Argentine soil for the following four. years.