Sam Matterface has accused Ally McCoist and Lee Dixon of being the reason fellow ITV personality Roy Keane flew home for a break during the World Cup. The ITV commentator blamed McCoist and Dixon for Keane’s temporary departure after he claimed it was due to ‘fellow pundits’.
Last week, Keane joined Gary Neville and Micah Richards in a video for SkyBet, in which the three discussed their Qatar World Cup experience so far. The Irishman described his time in the Middle East okay before admitting he flew home for some time off midway through the tournament.
Neville told SkyBet: “To be fair, Roy went home for four or five days as well, actually. He went back.” Keane replied: “I had a break. I needed a break, just my tolerance levels. Yeah, people get on my nerves.” Richards then asked him to name who… “How long have we got? Fellow pundits,” Keane added.
During ITV’s coverage of Argentina’s 3-0 win against Croatia in the semi-finals tonight, Keane weighed in on Lionel Messi’s first-half penalty. At half-time, he claimed it wasn’t a foul on Julian Alvarez by Dominik Livakovic, disagreeing with Dixon and McCoist’s opinions on co-comms.
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“Poor defending overall to let him get a run in on goal, but I agree with the lads,” Keane explained alongside Gary Neville and Ian Wright in the studio. “I don’t think it’s a penalty. Where else are you supposed to go?”
And as Mark Pougatch passed back over to the commentary team for the second half, Dixon and McCoist disagreed with the studio pundits about the penalty decision. Matterface then said: “We were looking for the pundits that made Roy go home during the tournament; I think we may have just found them.”
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Messi made no mistake slotting the penalty home as he guided Argentina into their latest World Cup final, also assisting Julian Alvarez’s second. His nation are now just one win away from lifting the trophy that has evaded him throughout his storied career.
Argentina will face France or Morocco when they return to the Lusail Iconic Stadium on Saturday, to be determined at the Al Bayt Stadium tomorrow night. It will be an emotional night for Messi and his fans either way, with his World Cup legacy set to end in jubilation and relief or heartbreak and sorrow.
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