Nicolas Otamendi enjoy from another place. He has not yet said it openly like Ángel Di María did, but it is very likely that he is playing his last America Cup with the Argentine National Team. At 36 years old, the central marker was summoned to participate for the first time in some Olympic Games in Paris 2024, and beyond his preponderant level, he knows that due to age the road begins to reach the end. But fate, often unfair, put him last Thursday at the right time and place: he successfully executed the penalty that qualified the Albiceleste for the semifinals against Ecuador.
It was a kind of immediate revenge for the one who emerged in Vélez, because he had been left with the anger of seeing how in front of him Kevin Rodríguez had combed the ball that he was going to reject in the 91st minute, to beat Emiliano Dibu Martínez.
“I was very calm, I knew that I had a responsibility on my foot, I felt very calm. Leo (Scaloni) was between González and me, and I asked him to be able to kick him, and it happened that I had the chance to be able to define it to qualify , which was the clear objective. Also emphasizing what Dibu is inside the goal, made everything easier, he appears in the key and decisive moments of the games, he is a great goalkeeper,” he acknowledged to Clarín, in the mixed zone of the NRG stadium. , a while after that right hand, dry and crossed, in the fifth shot of the frenetic definition.
In the last season, he was one of the 26 players who played the most games (51, not counting those for the Albiceleste), with four goals and two assists as leader of the team. Benfica, which “only” won the Super Cup at the beginning of the course. He was the third with the most defensive interceptions in the Portuguese League.
Anyway, the great closing of Lisandro Martínez It forced Scaloni to have to choose, and in that context Otamendi had to occupy another place, without the prominence of another era.
Otamendi was one of the ‘survivors’ of the generational change promoted by Lionel Scaloni when took office in 2018. Commander He did not make the ‘logical’ path of reaching the Major League from the youth ranks, but instead appeared directly mentioned by Diego Armando Maradona for the 2010 World Cup preview and, in South Africa at the age of 21, he was marked by having had to occupy the right back in the quarterfinals against Germany, due to the lack of a natural player for that position.
He had to watch Alejandro Sabella’s process from afar, he played just six games with the Albiceleste shirt between August 2010 and October 2014, when the arrival of Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino recovered him, now as a central marker.
From there he became a leader, beyond the fact that behind closed doors he does not have many words. His voice within the concentration has ascendancy, it means a guide to understanding what it means to wear the Argentine National Team shirt.
“Obviously it is a different moment, not being there from the beginning, it has been a long time since I have played, from my position I always try to be able to help, to be decisive, to try to advise the younger ones for the better. The chance arose. of kicking a fifth penalty in a decisive instance and thank God it happened,” highlighted the one who emerged in Vélez Sarsfield.
And having passed that time of criticism (many ruthless, bordering on the personal), memes and harsh sporting results, Otamendi is clear about what his objective is for this Copa América. “I’m happy, enjoying the moment. You never know when everything is going to end, it’s important to be very strong, enjoy every day with the National Team.”
There are 115 games wearing the albiceleste shirt for Otawho has to his credit the great header goal to silence the Maracaná stadium a couple of months ago, when Argentina took the historic undefeated record that Brazil had playing at home in the South American Qualifiers.
But in this Copa América he only started against Peru, when the rotation in the team was decided with qualification to the quarterfinals already assured.
For this reason, Otamendi is the flag of those who have had the fewest minutes in this tournament. Those who are highly valued in each intervention before the press by Lionel Scaloni. “Those who train the day after each game” is the phrase he usually uses to group them together.
“Many years in the National Team, today I have to not be at the start at a different time for me. I am not going to lie that it is complicated, but with the mentality always positive. From the moment I can help the team I am going to do it. There is to enjoy the moment, it is an impressive group,” he insisted in his statements. If those who are part of that group, in which it is also Angel Di Mariathey see them being the first to push, they will have no choice but to do the same.
The dream of a full orchestra closing, in this Copa América and as captain in the Olympic Gameswill be one of Otamendi’s greatest sporting wishes.