“A great ending for a great player. Brilliant.”
Roy Keane summed it up well as the ITV panel reflected on a wild and wonderful World Cup, capped off by a bonkers, exhilarating final. Their World Cup XI tells a story, too.
Argentina ended a long stretch of European dominance by defeating France 4-2 in a penalty shootout, and won their first World Cup since 1986. Keane and his fellow ITV pundits were delighted that Argentina captain Lionel Messi could end with a World Cup win in his fifth and final go in the tournament.
The panel also had a crack at selecting their World Cup XI. One of the biggest takeaways was that, unlike the BBC pundits, it did not feature a single English player.
Over on the BBC, on Saturday, Alex Scott, Micah Richards and Jürgen Klinsmann all had cracks at their World Cup XI with England midfielder Jude Bellingham making it into all three selections. For the ITV panel, it was a different story.
ITV’s World Cup XI
In the final mix, Argentina had five inclusions in the World Cup XI of the ITV panel. France had three, Morocco had two and Croatia, the other semi-finalists, had one – Josko Gvardiol.
Sitting beside fellow pundits Ian Wright and Gary Neville, Roy Keane was not exactly glowing in his praise of Argentina defenders Marcos Acuña and Cristian Romero, adding, “Shove them in there. I’m sure they’ll do a job for the team.”
Keane raved about the “outstanding” Moroccan midfielder Sofyan Amrabat while Wright said he was happy Aurelien Tchouameni made the cut but he ‘would not be to averse’ to Jude Bellingham being included.
Julian Alvarez ‘ran himself into the ground’, according to Wright and had fully merited his place in their XI.
As for the official FIFA awards, Kylian Mbappé won the Golden Boot, Emi Martinez got the Golden Gloves, Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez won Best Young Player and Lionel Messi capped an incredible World Cup by getting the Golden Ball for Best Player.
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
