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Heimir Hallgrímsson (second from back) with some of his staff before kick-off on Sunday.
From The 42Nations League
Heimir Hallgrímsson: Ireland 'haven't decided what we will do 100%' about second Israel game
The team arrived back in Dublin on Monday night ahead of two more Nations League games this week.
An editorial note re: The 42’s reporting on the Uefa Nations League matches between Ireland and Israel is available to read here.
THE REPUBLIC OF Ireland players arrived back to Dublin in the early hours of Monday morning after catching their charter flight home from Debrecen.
Heimir Hallgrímsson informed them they could “share a day with their families and friends and loved ones” before returning to camp and turning attention to Thursday’s Nations League game with Austria in Dublin.
The Ireland boss explained that “we haven’t decided what we will do 100%” in terms of having conversations about the Israel game to come behind closed doors in Serbia on Sunday.
Of course, the fallout from the last 36 hours and events before, during and after the 3-0 win over Israel in Hungary continues. Gavin Bazunu travelled home with his international teammates and will be part of the squad in the Aviva Stadium this week.
Hallgrímsson made it clear that he had visited the goalkeeper in the team hotel in Debrecen and checked on his welfare after he informed his manager and teammates on the morning before the team were due to face Israel that he did not wish to be involved.
It was a decision he was perfectly entitled to make given the condensed nature of discussions in Pristina among the players and key FAI staff last Friday.
The Ireland players had been due to release a statement of their own on Saturday morning outlining a decision to play while acknowledging the depth of feeling at home.
It has been reported that some players were angry at Bazunu – one is understood to have since apologised for his behaviour – and Hallgrímsson was reticent to divulge too much on the matter when asked about how feelings were expressed to the Dubliner.
“I don’t think that was to his decision. It was probably the timing. I don’t know if I should say… I don’t want to say, because probably what I felt was different from what a player felt, and we all see things from our own eyes, so I’m not going to say something that wouldn’t be right, because this person felt it this way and another person felt it in a different way.”
The Ireland boss was visibly emotional at times as he spoke after the 3-0 win over Israel. He hailed “the leaders” who emerged and the “pride” of the players representing their country.
The situation has taken a toll, and there was a further cruel twist to the whole scenario when it emerged that Uefa would not be able to investigate an accusation of racist abuse made against the Israel fans because the proper protocols were not followed.
Jayson Molumby reported chants made in the direction of Adam Idah to the referee. A request for comment to Uefa has not yet been answered. Nor has Europe’s governing body answered an inquiry from The 42 about the audible chants from Israel fans about the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The FAI are examining their own video footage of the alleged racist chanting and insist that they will send the evidence to Uefa “demanding an investigation into the incident.”
The 42 also contacted the Israeli FA after incendiary post-match comments from Manor Solomon, who started as captain, came to light, with a spokesperson confirming the following translation was correct.
“They (Ireland) don’t interest me. We have a country 10 times better than theirs, stronger, an amazing country with amazing people. We are proud to wear the team shirt and to be Israelis. We are proud of our state and of our soldiers,” Solomon said.
“They can play all their tricks. We are Israelis and love the country. And that will always be the case. If I say what I think of them, I’d likely be suspended for a few matches. Obviously they hate us. We don’t like them.
“I’m waiting for the next game against them, it’ll be a completely different game entirely.”
All of this can now be added into the mix before the teams are due to meet on Sunday.
“I think we all are uncomfortable, number one. Number two, we have different opinions, and we should allow people to have different opinions,” Hallgrímsson said when asked to describe the feeling in his camp.
“There’s not one opinion that is right and all the others are wrong. We have different players in the squad that come from different backgrounds, so we need to be careful that everybody has a say in our decisions.
“But it’s tough when there’s different positions. Just like politics, some parties just can’t work together. But it’s been amazing and I hope you see the tough times that the players have gone through and come out as winners.
“Because they want to represent their country, that’s their desire. I hope everybody sees that.
Hallgrímsson was not yet fully aware or briefed on the situation with regards the racism accusation when he spoke to reporters in Hungary on Sunday night.
Like his players, the manager will also benefit from some time to reflect. FAI president Paul Cooke might just feel it best to do the same after his own post-match interview, although perhaps that will come in time.
“It’s definitely been testing, psychologically, 100%,” Hallgrímsson said.
“This is something that you can’t take a course in, a coaching course or a leadership course. You can’t manufacture a situation like this. Sometimes when you are team-building and coaches make it us against the world, it’s kind of that position the players are in. It is.
“And then when they go through this, the bond between them will become stronger or the problems in the future will seem lesser when they go through this. From a team-building perspective, this was something that could have gone either way. We got through this and hopefully we can use this to grow as a team in the future.”
Written by David Sneyd and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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