Roy Keane and Graeme Souness clashed brilliantly during half-time of Argentina’s opening game with Saudi Arabia. We all know how it ended but Argentina were leading 1-0 at the interval before throwing away their lead in the second half.
The two pundits hit out at each other after Argentina were awarded an early penalty when Leandro Paredes was seemingly pulled to the floor by Mohamed Kanno.
Lionel Messi was ready to pounce at the opportunity and he tucked away his spot kick.
Argentina 1-0 Saudi Arabia: Lionel Messi opens the scoring from the penalty spot and already it looks like it's going to be a long way back for the Saudis.
#FifaWorldCup #RTESoccer pic.twitter.com/yz3m2QYdpp
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) November 22, 2022
Footage courtesy of RTE
Speaking on ITV, Keane stressed that he didn’t think it was a penalty, before Souness make a big deal out of disagreeing with him.
“I don’t think that’s a penalty,” Keane said.
Souness replied: “He’s (the defender) not looking at the ball. He doesn’t know where the ball is and is just interested in the Argentina player. He doesn’t know when it’s been kicked, he’s not looking – I think that is a pen.”
Keane wasn’t stopping there, replying: “No no no! All this will do is encourage diving. He’s (Paredes) dragging him (the defender) down.
Souness continued the argument, saying: “Roy you’re not listening to what Laura (Woods) said. This is a directive from referees this is not about opinion this is a fact – the guy wasn’t looking.”
The Irishman punched back: “I heard exactly what she said. This will encourage diving – I’m here to give my opinion. That’s not a pen!”
It dragged on even longer!
Souness hit back: “This isn’t about our opinion it’s about the laws of the game. The interpretation of the new law is if you’re not looking at ball it’s a pen.”
Keane replied: “I’m here to give my opinion that’s not my pen I’ll say it again – that’s my opinion. That’s my opinion. I’m here to give my opinion that’s not a penalty’, before he repeated: ‘I’m here to give my opinion that’s not a penalty.”
Souness said: “I’ve heard you say it 10 times, let someone else speak. You’ll learn a lot more if you listen rather than talk all the time.”
Roy Keane and Graeme Souness arguing about the Argentina penalty 😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Ih4KgREcaD
— Nah. (@JinnIbnThere) November 22, 2022
