We should have played Ronaldo's Portugal — Argentina's hero defends World Cup pathway

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez has rejected claims that Argentina were handed an easy route to the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, insisting the defending champions earned their place.

Lionel Scaloni's side are preparing to face Spain in Sunday's highly anticipated final at the New York-New Jersey Stadium.

However, their journey to the showpiece event has faced scrutiny from critics who argue they avoided football's traditional heavyweights during the early knockout rounds.

Speaking to the media ahead of Sunday's final, the 33-year-old goalkeeper dismissed the narrative surrounding their perceived favourable draw.

"People saying we had an easy path to the final? We didn’t choose our opponents," Martínez stated.

He noted that they could have faced a highly ranked nation in the quarter-finals, specifically Portugal, but they went down a separate path after the 2016 European champions failed to win their group.

“For example, we had to face Portugal in the quarterfinals, but Colombia dominated against Portugal, then Switzerland beat Colombia, and we ended up playing Switzerland," Martínez, whose heroic performances at the 2022 FIFA World Cup handed Argentina their third star, explained.

"It was tough. All the matches are tough. You just have to play and adapt."

The external criticism stems largely from FIFA's tournament seeding structure, which is explicitly designed to keep the highest-ranked nations apart until the latter stages of the competition.

By topping Group J with a perfect nine points following comfortable victories over Algeria, Austria, and Jordan, Argentina secured a top-seeded path through the knockout rounds.

Their run included a hard-fought 3-2 extra-time victory over Cabo Verde in the Round of 32, followed by a dramatic 3-2 comeback win against Egypt in the Round of 16.

They then dispatched Switzerland 3-1 in the quarter-finals to set up a clash against an elite European opponent.

Argentina ultimately delivered when finally presented with a heavyweight clash. When faced with a star-studded England squad in Wednesday's semi-final in Atlanta, Argentina dug deep to secure a 2-1 victory.

They came from behind following Anthony Gordon's 55th-minute opener, with Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez scoring late to complete the turnaround and silence their detractors.

When Argentina step onto the pitch on Sunday against a Spanish side that recently eliminated France, it will mark their seventh overall World Cup final appearance. 

Should Martínez and his teammates secure the victory, Argentina will become only the third nation in football history to win consecutive World Cup titles, joining the exclusive ranks of Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962).