Walter Benítez, the ‘mute’ who silently achieved the world championship goal after saying no to France and Paraguay

They tell him To muffle And so, in silence, one day he became the goalkeeper of the World Champion team. Trainer Lionel Scaloni confirmed to Walter Benitez among the 11 starters to face Costa Rica in the second friendly match of the day FIFA This week. Other teams wanted him, but he preferred to bet on his time coming and now he is emerging as a replacement Emiliano Draw Martinez.

To follow Benítez in Argentine football you have to think about the teams that do it Ricardo Caruso Lombardi it tried to save itself from relegation, most of the time successfully. The club fighting to maintain the category was Quilmes And thanks to the coach came the debut in the First Division in 2014.

The position was his. He established himself between the posts at the age of 23 and his performance attracted the interest of several major Argentine clubs. He said no Mouth AND Independent. She waited patiently for the offer to arrive from Europe. And it arrived: Nice have convinced the goalkeeper to sign as a reinforcement for Ligue 1 in France.

There he had a more than interesting performance, owning the second highest average of saves per game with 3.2. In a memorable match against PSG, he saved a penalty against the Uruguayan Edinson Cavani. There were 188 matches for Nice, where he kept 55 clean sheets.

However, this presence in Europe did not bring him so much closer to the national team and made his participation in the 2013 South America Sub 20, in which he competed for the place with Juan Musso, it will be further and further away. He was selected for the Rio 2016 Olympics, but an injury ruled him out of the competition.

The lack of calls from the AFA has encouraged those from other federations: that of the AFA France who had it on hand for six years and Paraguay due to a specific interest of the then coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto. She said no to both.

“Since I haven’t played for the Argentine national team, there is a possibility that they will call me up from the French national team. I’m not closing the door to anyone, but I’m Argentine and I’d like to play for my country’s national team,” he said ESPN when they asked him about the voice. “Guillermo contacted me at that time, that there was an interest and they were trying to look into the question of the documents,” he had also admitted about Albirroja, this time for TyC Sports.

Meanwhile, interest from another European team forced him to make another decision. In mid-2022 he went free PSV Eindhoven From Holland, where he is the undisputed starting goalkeeper. In that window, a year after his arrival, he finally received the call from Argentina.

In 2023 Lionel Scaloni calls him to replace him FrancoArmani for the Asia tour for the FIFA double date, but did not add minutes despite training. Draw Martínez’s replacement was Geronimo Rulli and Chaco was the third alternative. He was among those called up for the double round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers but had not entered before Uruguay neither Brazil.

Scaloni has his mind set beyond the friendly match: he needs a replacement for the world champion team in view of the next Copa América and the qualifiers leading to the next World Cup, which several historic players will not make it to due to age.

FrancoArmani He is 37 years old and would reach the age of 39 at the World Cup which will be held between the United States, Canada and Mexico. With 31 scored in this call-up, Benítez has the opportunity to enter the Scaloni cycle, as a substitute in goal.

As a good goalkeeper, he started by scoring goals

Benítez was born in Chaco, in the department of General San Martín, 120 kilometers from Resistencia. His first club was his hometown, but as a striker. “The day I went in goal I immediately understood. It was a seven against seven match, on a pitch with more dirt than grass and I liked throwing and rolling more than being an attacker. At 9 years old I decided to be a goalkeeper “, he confessed to the newspaper The nation In an interview. As a teenager he came on the radar of Quilmes, where he played in the youth team and played 51 games for the Primera.

From that forgotten position, the only thing he retained was his footwork. Beyond his reflexes and response with his hands, Benitez has one of his main characteristics in his passes and shots. “It’s something I worked on in Quilmes and which helped me a lot in Europe,” he acknowledged in another interview with the French newspaper L’Equipe when the national team was away.

In that period its then technical director, Patrick Vieira, lobbied for him. “I hope that Walter Benítez is called up to the national team. For what he has shown since the beginning of the season, he deserves to be seen”, he declared then, thanks to an interest that arrived much later.