Tigres Nahuel Guzman on his goal-line magic trick, Messi, and taking influence from clowns

Sporting his trademark mohawk and with his socks pulled up above his knees, Tigres goalkeeper Nahuel Guzmán paced around his six-yard box. He stepped in and out of goal then clutched his nose. Something seemed to be wrong.

The 37-year-old Argentine stood hunched over underneath the crossbar as his opponent, Vancouver’s Serbian defender Ranko Veselinovic, waited to take his penalty. It was the Leagues Cup round of 32, in the crucial fourth round of a shootout to determine the winner between the Whitecaps and Guzmán’s Tigres.

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Veselinovic was about to be the mark in a never-before-seen theatrical act on a football pitch.

Guzmán gestured toward match referee Lukasz Szpala and asked for more time. Then he began to pull a lengthy strand of multi-colored paper from his mouth. The former Argentina national team keeper had brought a magic trick normally reserved for a child’s birthday party to a decisive continental knockout-round match.

Guzmán pulled a healthy amount of the strand from his mouth, leaving remnants of his antics inside the goalmouth. He put his right hand to his stomach as if he had been afflicted with a sudden stomach virus. Szpala issued Guzmán a yellow card for time wasting.

The entire act took nearly 30 seconds, but for Veselinovic it must have felt much longer. When the kick was finally taken, Guzmán dove to his left and saved the Serb’s penalty. Tigres went on to advance on the next kick, and shared the clip of Guzman’s trick on social media with the caption “Do not try to understand Nahuelism, just enjoy it.”

🧞‍♂️ No trates de entender el Nahuelismo, solo disfrútalo. pic.twitter.com/OLChhwt2jI

— Club Tigres 🐯 (@TigresOficial) August 5, 2023

“The thing about that trick is that the (string) is about 20 meters long,” said Guzmán. “I cut it but there was still string inside my mouth when I stopped that penalty. I didn’t want to remove it because I had already been cautioned by the referee … He spoke to me in English and, like I often do, I acted like I didn’t understand him. Sometimes I really don’t understand. Other times I do.”

As wild as that moment was, it wasn’t out of character. Guzmán is one of football’s greatest showmen — a throwback to when goalkeepers were seen as misfits with a screw loose. He spoke to The Athletic about that moment, the inspiration behind it and why he believes the International Football Association Board’s (IFAB) new penalty rules have handcuffed goalkeepers.

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When asked about his ploy to distract Vancouver’s Veselinovic, Guzmán laughed.

“I come from an artistic family,” said Guzmán. “My dad was probably the most artistic. He had a bit of all of that. He passed away in 2019 and those little things, those details are ways that I can honor him on the pitch. He was a very fun person.

“I have friends who for many years have worked as clowns. It’s part of their lifestyle. They’re like my advisors.”

To land an interview with Guzmán is rare, and even in this meeting Guzmán wondered out loud whether this was the right way to tell his side of the story.

“I have issues with the written press because it’s difficult to contextualize,” Guzmán said in Spanish. “You can’t see any of my gestures. What I ask is that the story be as explicit as possible. Especially if you have to translate.”

Was this a form of deception too? Was Guzmán attempting to gain an edge before the interview started? You can never be sure. Even over a video call, Guzmán is clear and calculated. He’s also legitimately funny. He’s nicknamed “El Patón.” Guzmán asked that the translation of his interview be as literal as possible, so here it goes: “El Patón” translates literally to “Big Foot.” Guzmán was given that nickname early in his career as a goalkeeper in Argentina, owing to his excessively large feet.

During his first few years with Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, Guzmán would ride to training on a longboard, weaving through traffic on the streets of Rosario. “I was a lot younger and a lot crazier than I am now,” he said. In Mexico, where he has become an icon with Tigres, fans have become accustomed to his punk rock hairstyles, volatile play and heroic moments.

There were plenty of examples of each just in the Leagues Cup. Earlier in that same penalty shootout against Vancouver, Guzmán acted like a mime while Whitecaps striker Sergio Córdova waited to begin his runup. Unlike Veselinovic, Córdova buried his penalty.

Guzman doing the mime 😂 pic.twitter.com/o0Z50zsNr0

— MLS Moves (@MLSMoves) August 5, 2023

Against city rivals CF Monterrey in the round of 16, Guzmán walked across his goal line like a trapeze artist hundreds of feet off the ground. Monterrey’s Sergio Canales put the spot kick away.

Tigres x Monterrey. Último lance do jogo e pênalti para o Monterrey.

Olha o que o Guzman faz para tentar distrair o Canales kkkkkkkkkkkkk

Dessa vez não deu certo. pic.twitter.com/f1CYCFVDrH

— Edu (@goldorayo) August 9, 2023

Guzmán is fully aware that if his antics don’t distract the penalty taker at all, he’ll look foolish.

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“I tried a different method of distraction against Rayados. It didn’t work,” Guzmán said. “There was another result, and that brought criticism my way.”

Guzmán said that he had planned to unveil his clown trick during the first leg of last season’s Liga MX final against Guadalajara. The bigger the stage the better. However, Guzmán had already received a yellow card in that match, so he decided against it. Leagues Cup was his next opportunity to put on a show.

Guzmán admits that he had practiced the paper coil trick beforehand and that he was anxious to pull it off in a match.

“(The trick) happened to come at a time when the rules have changed for us goalkeepers,” said Guzmán. “I had some other ideas based on the advice of my friends who work as clowns. I mean, these are ideas that shouldn’t bother anyone. They’re not violent. They’re not aggressive. You can interpret them as you wish, but they come from a place of art. I’ve always considered myself an artist. I have friends who thought what I did was a way to protest against those new rules.”

Indeed, in March the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the governing body that draws up the laws of the game, amended Law 14, “The Penalty Kick.” The change clarified that goalkeepers “must not behave in a manner that fails to show respect for the game and the opponent, i.e. by unfairly distracting the kicker.”

It was no coincidence that the amendment came after Argentina national team goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez became globally known as an instigator who crossed the line during penalty shootouts at the 2021 Copa América and again even more famously during the World Cup final in December 2022.

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In 2021, Martínez verbally taunted Colombia’s players and celebrated one of his penalty stops with a pelvic thrust. During the World Cup final against France, Martínez’s mind tricks included throwing the ball away as French midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni stepped up to take his penalty. Tchouameni missed the target and Martínez’s celebratory dance became one of the lasting memories of the World Cup in Qatar.

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Martínez isn’t the only goalkeeper who has relied on such behavior – so-called “S—housery” has always been a part of a penalty kick situation, on both sides. Goalkeepers around the world at every level encroach, delay, taunt and distract penalty-takers. FIFA, it seemed, had seen enough. Martínez is nicknamed “El Dibu” and the new rule is widely regarded as The Anti-Dibu Rule.

“I believe that I was given a yellow card because I had elements or because I delayed the penalty,” Guzman said, before admitting, “rules to a degree always have that gray area.”

Football, and particularly goalkeeping, has changed drastically over the past decade. A goalkeeper with good feet is no longer a luxury, but rather a requirement. And generally speaking, the personality of a goalkeeper has slowly evolved to become more buttoned up.

pic.twitter.com/I2ZR5keDma

— Out Of Context Football (@nocontextfooty) December 23, 2020

The occasional rogue goalkeepers still exist, but the class of René ‘El Loco’ Higuita, Jorge Campos, José Luis Chilavert, and Harald Schumacher are long gone. Guzmán, though, fits squarely within that dying breed. And he’s a welcome character in a sport that has become far too programmatic.

“Today goalkeepers who play outside of their penalty area draw a lot of attention, like Manuel Neuer,” said Guzmán. “And in El Dibu’s case, he goes a bit further, does some extra things during a penalty. I believe the rule is about allowing for more time to play, more goals. Goals give the game that spectacle. When matches end 0-0, journalists say that the game was boring. Today it’s all about the show, the goals, the celebrations.”

At the start of the interview, Guzmán said that he tends to extend himself when he answers certain types of questions. “I try to be clear,” he said. Well, clearly, Guzmán had plenty to say about the IFAB’s latest rule change.

“I think this new rule limits us as goalkeepers,” Guzmán said. “I believe aggression or anything invasive, violent, aggressive gestures should never be allowed, whether it’s before a penalty or during a free kick. But the rule puts all the responsibility on goalkeepers. I read that goalkeepers can’t do any gestures that distract the penalty taker. This is what I always say: If I do something and you get distracted, who is responsible for having been distracted? It comes down to the referee’s interpretation.”

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He continued.

“One should step into those gray areas I mentioned with creativity. And not just during a penalty or a free kick. We’ve seen rehearsed set pieces that are fun! Eight players run over the ball, one touches it, players running in different directions. So you’re saying that’s not going to count either?

“I think as long as things are part of the spectacle and they’re not violent or aggressive, there’s room to keep trying things. The rule has gradually limited us more. Stay on the line and don’t move. Don’t touch the crossbar because it could affect the trajectory of the ball. Now it’s about goalkeepers moving forward off their line. Okay, sometimes it’s honestly excessive, but other times a goalkeeper needs to move before (the shot) out of necessity, to get to the post. But there are ways to intervene creatively and in a fun way, too.”

Spend just a little bit of time with Guzmán and you’ll understand why Lionel Messi is laughing in nearly every image of the two of them together. The two were teammates on the Argentina national team from 2014 to 2018, and remain good friends.

“That’s how I’ve always been. I get out of a bad situation by smiling or by telling a joke,” Guzmán said. “I think (Messi) gradually valued that. To this day we still message each other. As we both advanced in Leagues Cup I told him that we were going to face each other. We’ve always done that. We exchanged messages when he was at the World Cup and at the Copa America that they won. I wasn’t with the national team anymore but somehow I felt part of those wins.”

Guzmán was a backup keeper on the 2015 and 2016 Copa América squads that lost back-to-back finals to Chile in penalties. He resumed that role at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which turned out to be another major disappointment, losing 4-3 to France in the round of 16.

“I don’t know if we became best friends but we became great teammates, maybe great friends,” said Guzmán. “Together we went through experiences that touched us, that go deep. Those are experiences that strengthen relationships. I began to understand him on the field, and how I understood him on the field began to influence how I saw him off the field.”

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Guzmán remembers his time with the national team fondly, at least in part. The results and the vitriol that Argentina’s players faced in their own country after the aforementioned losses has left a lasting scar that was healed with Messi’s triumph in Qatar.

“Those four years that I shared with Leo on the national team were intense,” Guzmán said. “But it gave me the opportunity to get to know him off the pitch. I’ll always be grateful for that. That possibility was something that Leo offered to me. But I had to take that first step. What often happens with stars, personalities like him, is that we don’t take that step to get close to them, whether it’s out of fear or embarrassment.”

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Guzmán saw a crestfallen Messi during those tumultuous four years. Now, Guzmán said, Messi is “walking on air” since winning the World Cup and signing with Inter Miami moving to the United States. The pressure is off.

“I’m very happy for Leo and all of the players for what they have all accomplished,” Guzmán said. “But more than anything, what really makes me happy, was seeing them enjoy themselves and defend each other on the pitch. For me, it hurt to not have seen that, in part, during the previous process. Not the entire time, but there came a time when we, the players, stopped having fun. We’d show up to games and get jeered. Nos puteaban. We couldn’t leave camp. We couldn’t go out to dinner with our friends and family.”

Guzmán and Messi are both from Rosario and have mutual friends who played together for Newell’s youth teams. While Messi left the city and Newell’s at the age of 13 to sign for Barcelona, Guzmán stayed at the club and worked his way up the chain. “I was the fourth-string goalkeeper, the third-string goalkeeper. I’m one of the goalkeepers with the most substitute appearances in the club’s history. I had to wait.”

Tata Martino, who arrived at Newell’s in 2012, gave Guzmán his chance. Guzmán became a starter and won an Argentina Primera División championship in 2013. It was a storybook situation for the local kid.

“(Martino) gave me a shot and he trusted me,” Guzmán said. “Then he gave me that responsibility and he backed me because I f—ed up a few times. I made some mistakes, to be more politically correct. He always backed me and that gave me the chance to play the way that he wanted me to and how I knew that I could play.”

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Guzmán said that he has exchanged text messages with Martino since his former manager joined Inter Miami. He laughs when asked if he’d take a recruiting call from Martino. Who wouldn’t want to see Guzmán in MLS?

“Tata is a person, a professional, who I believe, is someone who is good to have involved in football. I hope he can enjoy his return to MLS. It went so well for him in Atlanta. He deserves it. But there was nothing professional (about our talks).”

Guzmán recently signed a two-year contract extension with Tigres. He referred to Newell’s as his home, and to Martino as the coach who taught him to truly understand football. Tigres, he said, is his current habitat.

“It’s a place where I learned to stay,” Guzmán said. He revealed that upon arriving at the club in 2014, he struggled to adapt. He didn’t see a long-term future at the club. That changed after he returned from the 2018 World Cup.

“Today I feel like this is my place,” Guzmán said. “I have three Mexican children. My wife is happy here. My father came to live here. He died here. Now my mother has come with her husband. And it goes without saying what Tigres has represented for my career. Tigres is the institution that gave me the opportunity to have what I have. I defend it all with my heart, with my skin, as I always say. From the family aspect: the birth of my children, the death of my father, (Tigres) was always there. That embrace was there. I relate to the fans. I identify with the Tigres profile. That has all been part of the construction of my career. I’m here and motivated to achieve more.”

(Top photo: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports)

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