\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Emiliano \u201cDibu\u201d Mart\u00ednez has sparked concern among Argentina fans after saying he will \u201chave to think if it\u2019s time to step aside\u201d from the national team.<\/p>\n
Mart\u00ednez, who returned to Argentina on Monday night alongside several teammates and was greeted by crowds of supporters near the airport, was among the last members of the squad to reflect publicly on the Albiceleste\u2019s performance at the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dreamt we won it again,\u201d he wrote in a post on Instagram. \u201cI dreamt we brought it back to Argentina and made history once again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mart\u00ednez said the pain of losing the final to Spain is \u201chard to explain\u201d and apologized, saying he had tried to \u201cdo the most to help the country and [his] teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll have to reflect, see how to move forward, and think if it\u2019s time to step aside,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
The post was immediately met with messages of support from fans, who urged him not to retire from international football and thanked him for his contributions since joining the national team.<\/p>\n
Mart\u00ednez endured an inconsistent World Cup campaign. Although he was rarely tested, he conceded frequently when called into action, most notably against Egypt in the round of 16.<\/p>\n
His standout performance came in the final, where he made a record 11 saves, the highest tally ever recorded by a goalkeeper in a World Cup final.<\/p>\n
Other players react Mart\u00ednez was not the only player to speak about the disappointment of defeat, with several teammates sharing messages on their personal Instagram accounts.<\/p>\n
Rodrigo De Paul, who traveled to Miami instead of returning to Argentina, said the greatest pain was being unable to \u201cbring the World Cup back to our country,\u201d adding that \u201cif anyone deserved to experience that feeling again, it was [the fans].\u201d<\/p>\n
Lautaro Mart\u00ednez said he remained \u201cproud to be Argentine,\u201d while expressing his frustration at missing the final, saying he \u201cwould\u2019ve liked the chance to help the team on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cristian Romero apologized to supporters for \u201cnot being able to gift them the joy\u201d of winning another World Cup and thanked \u201cevery Argentine who supported us from every corner of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel that love every day,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, who was sent off in the final after a reckless challenge on Spain\u2019s Pau Cubars\u00ed earned him a second yellow card, said wearing Argentina\u2019s shirt is \u201cthe greatest honor of [his] career\u201d and vowed to \u201ccontinue giving it [his] all every time [he] gets the chance to defend it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Messi in Rosario Argentina captain Lionel Messi arrived in Rosario on Tuesday to spend a few days with his family before rejoining Inter Miami for the resumption of club competition.<\/p>\n
Messi did not return to Argentina with the rest of the squad after the final, instead flying to Miami before traveling on to his hometown.<\/p>\n
The eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner is expected to visit his father, who suffered serious health problems in the lead-up to the World Cup.<\/p>\n
During Argentina\u2019s opening match against Algeria in June, Messi was seen in tears after scoring the team\u2019s first goal of the tournament. He later explained that they were prompted by \u201can issue completely unrelated to sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
Days later, false reports claiming his father had died circulated online, prompting the family to publicly deny the rumors and condemn the spread of misinformation.<\/p>\n
Cover image: Selecci\u00f3n Argentina twitter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emiliano \u201cDibu\u201d Mart\u00ednez has sparked concern among Argentina fans after saying he will \u201chave to think if it\u2019s time to step aside\u201d from the national team. Mart\u00ednez, who returned to Argentina on Monday night alongside several teammates and was greeted by crowds of supporters near the airport, was among the last members of the squad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":93457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5063,69,14436,66,1373,67,339],"tags":[5307,6040,24107,1368,1371,1369,3576],"class_list":["post-93456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-2026-world-cup","category-argentina-mens-national-football-team","category-emiliano-martinez","category-football","category-lionel-messi","category-sports","category-world-cup-2026","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-argentina-mens-national-football-team","tag-emiliano-martinez","tag-football","tag-lionel-messi","tag-sports","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}