Martin Keown has been branded "embarrassing" by BBC viewers after he dropped a howler just 45 seconds into Canada's clash with Croatia.
The former Arsenal defender is serving as one of the co-commentators for the broadcaster at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He was on duty alongside Steve Wilson in the gantry at the Khalifa International Stadium for Sunday's Group E clash.
In the very early stages of the game, in fact after only 45 seconds, Keown began discussing the set-up of Canada 's team. But he dropped a huge error as he appeared to forget which country he was talking about.
"Expect USA to play their same system," Keown said before Wilson cut him off to correct him by saying, "Canada". Keown did apologise as he went on to continue his thought by adding: "Sorry, Canada, they were quite emphatic, weren't they, in their last performance."
Seconds after he dropped that clanger, Canada took the lead when Alphonso Davies powered a magnificent header past Dominik Livakovic. Despite apologising, many viewers slammed Keown for his "embarrassing" error.
One took to social media to say: "Mad that it only took Canada 68 seconds to score but Martin Keown had still found time to call them the USA." Another added: "Wow! Martin Keown had barely just finished introducing Canada as USA before Davies scored that."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Who was man of the match as Croatia defeated Canada? Comment below.
A third fumed: "Got to say the standard of co-commentary at this World Cup from BBC and ITV is absolutely pathetic. Martin Keown, not even a minute into Croatia vs Canada, just called Canada 'USA'. Embarrassing."
Another said: "Martin Keown, just before Davies' goal, called Canada the USA and had to be corrected by the commentator. So embarrassing." A fifth viewer tweeted: "Don’t know who has made the more impressive start. Canada taking the lead after 70 seconds or Martin Keown calling them USA after less than a minute."
"So far in this Canada v Croatia game Martin Keown has already talked about how well Canada played vs Morocco (they played Belgium) and called Canada 'USA'. Normal service resumed," a final fan concluded.
Despite taking that early lead, Canada were pegged back by Croatia nine minutes before the end of the first half. Andrej Kramaric fired in the equaliser after being slipped in by Ivan Perisic.
They then took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Marko Livaja fired into the bottom corner from just outside the box. Croatia sealed the win 20 minutes from time when Kramaric brought down Perisic's cross in the box, cut inside and fired in, before Lovro Majer rounded off the scoring in injury time.
The defeat ended Canada's World Cup after Morocco beat Belgium earlier on Sunday. Croatia are well-placed to qualify for the knockout stages, having picked up four points from their two games.
