Ireland to Face England in International Friendly

The Republic of Ireland will face England at Wembley on November 12th in an international friendly. England were due to face New Zealand on that date but their opponents pulled out to the ongoing pandemic which caused problems with travel.

It is Ireland’s first trip to the home of English football since 2013 when the sides played out a 1-1 draw. Shane Long gave Ireland an early lead on the night but current Chelsea manager Frank Lampard equalised ten minutes later.

In 2015, the countries met again at the Aviva Stadium and played out a dull 0-0 draw. Obviously, the game will be played behind closed doors in line with current restrictions which will be a massive difference to the attendances at the previous fixtures.

Stephen Kenny and Gareth Southgate will be hoping their teams can bounce back from respective 1-0 defeats to Finland and Denmark in the UEFA Nations League.

Kenny will be desperate to pick up his first victory as Ireland senior manager and add to the solitary goal scored during his time in charge. The game will have added interest if former Irish underage internationals Declan Rice and Jack Grealish feature in the English side.

Both players represented Ireland all the way through the underage system and in the case of Rice, the West Ham midfielder featured for Ireland against France in an international friendly before switching allegiance.