Roy Keane endears himself to Argentina fans with call-back to his biggest World Cup criticism

Keane still brooding over this one, two weeks on.

Such is the loveable moodiness of Roy Keane that few of us were surprised when he equated Argentina winning an epic World Cup Final to his night's sleep getting affected. The former Manchester United and Ireland captain joked, as ITV wrapped their tournament coverage, that he could not wait to get home and get some distance between himself and fellow pundits Gary Neville and Ian Wright. At least, we think it was a joke. One thing Keane was not joshing about was the fact his chances of getting a good night's rest were up in smoke, now that Argentina were world champions again. "The biggest problem for us is our hotel tonight," Keane reflected. "They've been singing every night for the last two-and-a-half weeks, god knows what it will be like tonight!" Keane was full of praise for Argentina and their inspirational captain Lionel Messi, though. In praising the South Americans, he referred back to their long-time rivals and his biggest moment of criticism in the 2022 World Cup.

Roy Keane happy for Argentina to dance

Following Argentina's shoot-out win in the final, Roy Keane praised their manager, Lionel Scaloni for leading his nation to their first World Cup triumph in 36 years. "You've got to manage them and manage the egos," said Keane, "he had to make changes from the first game, but when you've got people like Messi on the pitch and you're doing your coaching, you've for a chance to win some football matches...

'That's part of the job. [Scaloni] has gotten them over the line, he's on the sideline kicking every ball with them. That's what you want when you have this type of group of players. Look at this, brilliant scenes. "It's brilliant. Dance all you want! They will be dancing at the hotel tonight, they should be dancing for the next 10 years! That's when you dance. That's when you dance, when you win it."

That comment, said with Neville and Wright laughing away, will endear the Cork native to Argentina fans even more. Not only is he praising their team, he was taking a dig at Brazil after their lengthy dance routines in a win over South Korea. At the time, Keane commented, "It’s like watching Strictly. I can’t believe what I’m watching. I think it's disrespectful dancing like that every time they score. I don't mind the first jig, or whatever it was, for the first goal, but not every time. It's disrespectful." A few days later, he was asked by Micah Richards to cool his jets on the Brazilians. Instead, he doubled down.

"Dance afterwards, dance in the dressing room, dance in a nightclub later on," Keane said. "Why do we go, 'Oh it's Brazil, it's alright for them to do it.' Why don't all the other countries do it?!"

Brazil were sent packing in their next game out, against Croatia, while Argentina - and their goalkeeper Emi Martinez - danced their way to a World Cup final triumph. Related articles.

• Argentina vs France: World Cup final goals, best moments and player ratings
• Roy Keane had Neville and Richards in hysterics with typical Irish lad on holidays remark
• "He doesn't know enough about football" - Emi Martinez fires back after Kylian Mbappé comments

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