‘Di Maria, my god’ – Argentina star’s ‘decision making’ questioned by Keane as he labels Saudi Arabia loss a ‘huge setback’

Roy Keane questioned Angel Di Maria’s ”decision making” after his wasteful performance in Argentina’s shock loss to Saudi Arabia. 

​Argentian stunned by Saudi ArabiaDi Maria had little impact on the gameKeane questions Argentina’s entire forward line

WHAT HAPPENED? The Manchester United legend and former Republic of Ireland international was fuming at Argentina after the Albiceleste were stunned by a 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia at the 2022 World Cup. Keane was particularly unimpressed with Paris Saint-Germain winger Di Maria, who took in an unsuccessful spell at United earlier in his career, as he highlighted his failure to make the most of good openings in the final third of the pitch.

WHAT THEY SAID: “Look at Di Maria. Di Maria, my God. Di Maria – decision making, he got into one or two positions, they were hesitant. (Saudi Arabia) got bodies on the line, fantastic,” Keane said on ITV Sport.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Keane also said that Argentina lacked aggression and were no match for the tough approach adopted by Saudi Arabia’s defenders in the second half. “The quality of Argentina going forward (was lacking),” he added. ”You think when it was getting physical that Argentina could go into that and say, ‘Listen, if you want a street fight, we’re ready for it. They weren’t even ready for that. And then they’re just depending on their quality and even that wasn’t at it. So, this desire and fight that we always talk about with Argentina, it wasn’t there. You look at [Lionel] Messi, no, no, they weren’t as a team today. A huge setback for them. Huge.”

IN TWO PHOTOS:

DID YOU KNOW? Saudi Arabia became the first non-European team to beat Argentina at the World Cup since Cameroon in 1990, with Argentina winning 13 such games in a row before Tuesday. They are the first Asian team to beat Argentina in World Cup history at the fifth attempt.

WHAT NEXT FOR ARGENTINA? Argentina will aim to get back to winning ways when they go up against Mexico on Saturday.