The men between the sticks play an integral role on the pitch. Some may argue they are the most important player out there, being the last line of defence, of course.
Without a reliable goalkeeper, you can just forget about any aspirations of winning anything in the sport.
Especially so in a tournament like the Copa America, defence wins trophies. So, it’s no surprise these keepers helped their squads advance—or at least tried their hardest to.
Maxime Crepeau
The Portland Timbers’ keeper has paid his dues by helping Canada defy the Copa America 2024 odds and reach the knockout stages for the first time in the team’s history.
Picked as Milan Borjan’s successor, the 30-year-old out of Quebec proved to be a formidable presence in goal for Les Rouges, as he kept two clean sheets out of his three starts in the group stages.
He was solid against both Chile and Peru, stopping all 10 shots that were fired in front of him.
Perhaps the most notable of them were Peru’s Piero Quispe and Christian Cueva.
Crepeau met the former’s shot point blank as Quispe found an open space on the left-hand side, whilst he correctly timed the latter’s equaliser attempt during injury time.
Argentina, however, were able to score twice as Messi and co. peppered Canada’s defence with 19 shots (10 on goal).
Despite Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez’s goals, Crepeau held his own, stopping a couple attempts from Messi and preventing a brace from Martinez.
Claudio Bravo
The former Barcelona and Manchester City goalie has yet to fully surrender to Father Time. In fact, Bravo just made a mark in this year’s tournament when he became the oldest man to start in Copa America’s history.
And while the former two-time Copa America winners failed to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004, Bravo showed that he still has a few more gas left in his tank.
Against Peru, the Chilean saved a couple shots from Gianluca Lapadula—one was a sitter after a quick breakaway, the other a volley coming out of a corner kick.
Meanwhile, Bravo had his work cut out on matchday two, when Argentina fired 22 shots in a rematch of the 2016 Copa America final.
Even in the loss, Claudio Bravo remained a defiant presence, allowing only a single goal throughout.
He was able to save six shots, which included Nahuel Molina’s searing attempt from the edge of the box and a point-blank shot from Lautaro Martinez.
Emiliano Martinez
It seems as if Emi Martinez is possessed whenever he has the Argentina kit on. A former journeyman in Arsenal’s loan system, Martinez finally found his home in 2020 when he signed with Aston Villa.
Fast forward to today, and the notorious and intimidating Martinez has a World Cup, a Copa America, and three best goalkeeper awards (The Best FIFA Goalkeeper, World Cup Golden Glove, and Copa America Best Goalkeeper) in his bag.
For this year’s tournament, Martinez leads all goalkeepers with three clean sheets to his name.
And whilst it can be said the defence of La Albiceleste has aided him in keeping shots at bay, Martinez sure does rise to the occasion when he is most needed.
After saving a couple of rockets from Rodrigo Echeverria (Chile) and being able to save all seven shots on target aimed at him, SBOTOP has Martinez as the favourite to win the tournament’s best goalkeeper award.
Rafael Romo
Venezuela just advanced to the quarter-finals of the Copa America for only the third time in their history. Grouped with Mexico and Ecuador, it was going to be tough for them to pull through.
Good thing they have Rafael Romo within their ranks.
Romo was fantastic in their game vs. Mexico, saving a penalty kick to deny an equaliser late in the match.
The goalie from Universidad Catolica was able to time Oberlin Pineda’s shot towards the bottom corner as he dove perfectly en route to a 1-0 win.
That save was the only penalty kick that was stopped throughout the entire group stages.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Romo, Mexico could’ve produced more Copa America 2024 highlights and run through Venezuela.
La Vinotinto needed an exquisite performance from their keeper in order to stay atop their group.
The proof was in the pudding; all of Mexico’s seven shots on goal were saved by Romo that game.
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