When is it on?
The Republic of Ireland will play Finland on Thursday in the Nations League League B, Group 2. The game is at 7.45pm at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. On Sunday, Ireland will play England in Wembley in their final Nations League group game, that one kicking off at 5pm.
How can I watch it?
You can watch both games on RTÉ2. Coverage for the Finland game starts at 7pm, coverage of the England game starts at 4pm. You can also watch the game on the RTÉ Player, or follow coverage on The Irish Times live blog.
What is at stake?
Fears of automatic relegation to League C were assuaged with an away win against Finland in the last international break. But should Ireland lose the return game to Finland, it would be very much back on the menu. Avoiding defeat through a draw should be enough to escape automatic relegation, while a win would guarantee third place in the group.
Two big victories could theoretically get Ireland to second in the group if England lose both games by a significant margin, but the chances are minuscule, so Ireland are most likely heading for third place.
In which case, Ireland would be heading for the promotion/relegation play-offs in March of next year, against one of the second-place teams in League C. As it stands, the teams they would face there would be Slovakia, Kosovo, Belarus or Armenia.
What is the team news for the game?
Séamus Coleman, Shane Duffy and Adam Idah have pulled out of the squad with injuries, while there are also injury doubts hanging over Dara O’Shea, Festy Ebosele and Andrew Moran but they remain in the squad for now. Jake O’Brien, Ryan Manning and Matt Doherty have come into the squad to replace the injured players. Ireland are at least in better shape than England for withdrawals, as eight players pulled out of their squad, leading the captain Harry Kane to hit out at his team-mates over their withdrawals.
Republic of Ireland squad — Finland & England
Goalkeepers: Caoimhín Kelleher (Liverpool), Mark Travers (Bournemouth), Max O’Leary (Bristol City)
Defenders: Matt Doherty (Wolves), Dara O’Shea (Ipswich Town), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Jake O’Brien (Everton), Mark McGuinness (Luton Town), Liam Scales (Celtic), Callum O’Dowda (Cardiff City), Ryan Manning (Southampton)
Midfielders: Josh Cullen (Burnley), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Jayson Molumby (West Brom), Finn Azaz (Middlesbrough), Andy Moran (Stoke City, on loan from Brighton).
Forwards: Adam Idah (Celtic), Evan Ferguson (Brighton), Tom Cannon (Stoke City, on loan from Leicester City), Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar), Festy Ebosele (Watford, on loan from Udinese), Kasey McAteer (Leicester City), Sammie Szmodics (Ipswich Town), Mikey Johnston (West Brom).
What are Ireland’s chances and what to look out for?
Pretty decent you would think, although they beat Finland with a late goal in a game that could have gone either way. Ireland haven’t actually won a competitive game at the Aviva since Armenia in the 2022 Nations League, even that by a late penalty, so it would be presumptuous to expect Ireland to see off Finland with any kind of ease. Hallgrímsson will be looking to build on that result in Helsinki, while in the second half against Greece in Athens, they showed some green shoots.
England looked imperious against Ireland earlier in the campaign, so it will be a big task to get a result in Wembley even with several withdrawals from their squad. It is Lee Carsley’s final game, so he will be looking to finish in style.
For Ireland, there will be a focus on concentration and avoiding blunders. Goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher and centre back Nathan Collins have been playing well in the Premier League and will be looking to rebound after errors against Greece and Finland respectively in the last international break. Sammie Szmodics scored against Tottenham at the weekend for Ipswich, but he still has not scored for Ireland, so he will be determined to break his duck in these two games.
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