Roy Keane has blasted England for considering using kick-off time as an excuse for their poor display against the USA.

Gareth Southgate’s side underperformed in Friday’s late kick off, with the final match of the day kicking off at 10pm local time.

Christian Pulisic coming close to taking all three points for the Americans when he hit the bar in the first half, but ultimately the match stayed 0-0.

While some are searching for reasons why England failed to match the showing on display in the 6-2 thrashing of Iran earlier in the week, Keane said England would have known what to expect, and should have prepared for the occasion better.

Keane told ITV Football: ‘We could be here all night making excuses. If you’re a professional footballer that’s what you have to do, you play in different conditions and different systems. They were playing darts last night before the game.

‘They didn’t show their quality but it happens, we’re not here to crucify the players and they move on to the next game. But they need to do better. It wasn’t good enough.’

With a three-hour time difference between the UK and Qatar, the Iran game on Monday kicked off at 4pm local time.

England’s crucial decider against neighbours Wales is also set to have a 10pm start in Qatar, while knockout-stage games are held at 6pm and 10pm local time.

Southgate’s side are assured of a place in the last-16 if they secure a result against Wales on Tuesday, whilst a heavy defeat could see them eliminated. Victory over the USA would have confirmed their place in the latter stages with a game to spare.

The squad’s love of darts has been previously covered by Sportsmail, including a report from Conor Coady’s victory in the ‘Players vs Media’ challenge against our own Dominic King.

Keane made 67 appearances for the Republic of Ireland before becoming a pundit.  He represented his country at the 1994 World Cup, and was selected for the tournament eight years later, before a high-profile bust-up with the then Irish manager Mick McCarthy.