We didn’t choose our opponents - Emiliano Martinez responds to critics over Argentina's route to FIFA World Cup 2026 final

Martinez feels Argentina weren’t lucky.

Emiliano Martínez has addressed Argentina’s path to the FIFA World Cup 2026 final. He feels they weren’t favoured in the competition.

Argentina faced some of the most improbable opponents on their way to the World Cup final. Switzerland, Cape Verde, Egypt, and Jordan have all faced La Albiceleste within the previous month.

Expectedly, there are debates about how Argentina faced some minor nations and had an easy path to the final.

Emiliano Martínez says Argentina weren’t lucky on their road to the final

However, according to Argentinian custodian Emiliano Martínez, they had no choice of opponents.

“People had opinions about the opponents we were up against, but we didn’t choose our opponents. For example, Colombia dominated against Portugal, then Switzerland beat Colombia, and we ended up playing Switzerland. It was tough. All the matches are tough. You just have to play and adapt.”

On paper, Argentina’s road to the FIFA World Cup 2026 final was largely seen as simpler than the other side of the bracket.

They did not face a top-15 FIFA-ranked national team until the semi-finals. Meanwhile, they also entirely avoided European heavyweights such as Spain and France.

However, they were driven into extra time by tournament debutants Cape Verde (Round of 32) and came from behind twice to upset Egypt (Round of 16). Then they overcame an early disadvantage to defeat England in the semi-finals.

There was a chance Portugal might meet Argentina, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi facing off. However, as group runners-up, the former were demoted to a difficult elimination round. In that route, Ronaldo and Co. would have had to overcome Croatia, Spain, and France to get to the final.

Spain’s possession-heavy domination, faultless defensive record, and technical brilliance under coach Luis de la Fuente might spell disaster for Argentina in the final. Furthermore, La Roja have only allowed one goal in the tournament. It can turn out to be extremely tough for La Albiceleste’s offence to get through.

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