They call him
Mute
and so, in silence, one day he became the goalkeeper of the World Champion Team.
Coach
Lionel Scaloni
confirmed
Walter Benítez
among the 11 starters to face
Costa Rica
in the second friendly of this week's
FIFA
round .
Other teams wanted him, but he preferred to bet on the arrival of his moment and now he is emerging as a replacement for
Emiliano
Dibu Martínez
.
To trace Benítez in Argentine football, you have to think about the teams that
Ricardo Caruso Lombardi
tried to save from relegation, most of the time successfully.
The club that was fighting to maintain the category was
Quilmes
and thanks to the coach came the goalkeeper's debut in First Division in 2014.
The position was his.
He established himself in goal at the age of 23 and his performance sparked the interest of different big clubs in Argentina.
He said no to
Boca
and
Independiente
.
He waited patiently for the offer to come from Europe.
And it came:
Nice got the goalkeeper to sign his name as a reinforcement for Ligue 1 in France
.
Armani, Musso, Benitez and Emiliano Martinez in training last year.
Photo: AFP
There he had a more than interesting performance, owning the second highest average of saves per game with 3.2.
In a memorable match against PSG, he saved a penalty from Uruguayan
Edinson Cavani
.
There were 188 games with Nice, where he kept his clean sheet 55 times.
However, this presence in Europe did not bring him that close to the National Team and made his participation in the 2013 South American Sub 20, in which he competed for the position with
Juan Musso
, increasingly distant.
He was shortlisted for the 2016 Rio Olympics, but an injury sidelined him from the competition.
The lack of calls from AFA encouraged those from other federations: that of
France
, which had him on hand for six years and that of
Paraguay
due to a specific interest from the then coach
Guillermo Barros Schelotto
.
He said no to both of them.
“Since I did not play with the Argentine National Team, there is a possibility that they will call me from the French team.
“I don't close the door to anyone, but I am Argentine and I would love to play for my country's national team,” he had told
ESPN
when asked about the rumor.
“Guillermo contacted me at the time, that there was an interest and they were trying to look into the issue of the papers,” he had also acknowledged about Albirroja, this time to
TyC Sports.
Meanwhile, the interest of another European team forced him to make another decision.
In mid-2022 he left for
PSV Eindhoven
in
the Netherlands
on a free transfer, where he is the undisputed starting goalkeeper.
In that window, a year after his arrival, he finally received the call from Argentina.
Benítez in a match defending PSV Eindhoven's goal in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund.
AFP Photo
In 2023, Lionel Scaloni called him up to replace
Franco Armani
for the tour in Asia for the FIFA double date, but he did not add minutes although he did train.
Dibu Martínez's substitute was
Gerónimo Rulli
and the Chaco native was the third alternative.
In it he was among those summoned for the double date of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers but did not enter against
Uruguay
or
Brazil
.
Scaloni has his mind set beyond the friendly: he needs a replacement for the world champion team for the upcoming Copa América and the Qualifiers that lead to the next World Cup, to which several historic players will not make it due to a matter of age.
Franco Armani
is 37 years old and would arrive at the age of 39 at the World Cup that will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
With 31 completed in this call-up, Benítez has the opportunity to enter the Scaloni cycle, as a replacement in goal.
Like a good goalkeeper, he started by scoring goals
Benítez was born in Chaco in the department of General San Martín, 120 kilometers from Resistencia.
His first club was his hometown, but as a striker.
"The day I went to the goal it clicked for me. It was a seven-on-seven game, on a field with more dirt than grass and I enjoyed throwing and rolling more than being a striker. At 9 years old I decided to be a goalkeeper," he confessed. to the newspaper
La Nación
in an interview. The teenager arrived on the radar of Quilmes, where he played in the youth teams and completed 51 games with the Primera.
From that forgotten position, the only thing he kept was his footwork.
Beyond his reflexes and response with his hands, Benitez's passing and hitting are one of his main characteristics.
"That is something that I worked on in Quilmes and that helped me a lot in Europe," he acknowledged in another interview with the French newspaper L'Equipe when the National Team was far away.
At that time his then technical director,
Patrick Vieira
, was lobbying for him.
"I hope that Walter Benítez is called up to the national team. From what he has shown since the beginning of the season, he deserves to be seen," he proclaimed then for an interest that came much later.