England vs Republic of Ireland
This should be a UEFA Nations League stroll for England.
That statement is not intended to be arrogant incidentally.
It’s just when one country is ranked 60 odd places above the other in football’s world order – and when that country has numerous times more players to select from than their counterparts – then that is exactly how it should be.
Yet make no mistake, there’s no prouder nation than the Republic of Ireland and they will not just turn up at Wembley on Sunday and roll over.
Talking Points
The gulf was evident on Thursday night when, despite the vast majority of what you’d consider to be England’s strongest XI ruled out, the reserves went to Greece and eased to a 3-0 victory.
However, at the same time, the plucky Irish were creating their own Nations League highlights.
After being saved twice by the woodwork in the first half, the prodigious talent that is Ewan Ferguson headed home on the stroke of half-time and then goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher saved a penalty 13 minutes from time.
The upshot of it all is that Ireland had completed a home and away double over Fulham to give the nation currently placed 64th in FIFA’s world rankings – England are fourth – something to build on going into 2025.
For this is the start of a new era under Heimir Hallgrimsson, who was joint head coach of his native Iceland when they stunned England at Euro 2016.
Hallgrimsson took Iceland, who had a world ranking in the 130s as recently as 2014, into the top 36 as they became the smallest country to make a major football finals and earned respect for their exuberant approach to the game.
Not bad for a nation with a population of just 330,000 and fewer than 22,000 registered footballers.
Matching those achievements with Ireland would take some doing but they’ve made a half decent start with two wins in his first five outings.
Of course, a new era is about to start for England too and the raison d’etre for them is altogether very different: win the World Cup!
A German by the name of Thomas Tuchel has been tasked with that feat after the Gareth Southgate era ended in glorious failure this summer, although seeing off Holland to reach a second successive European Championship final was still a fine achievement.
As respected journalist Henry Winter observed last month: ‘England need a finisher of a coach, a specialist at the tactical demands of winning, and Tuchel’s track record confirms that.’
Tuchel is, of course, familiar with English football having managed Chelsea between January 2021 and September 2022, winning the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup with the Blues.
Before all that it’s Lee Carsley’s final match in interim charge and, although it should be one-sided, England cannot afford complacency against a Hallgrimsson side.
History
Ireland may have only beaten England twice but one of those games was the most important meeting in their history.
Their opening match of Euro 88 in Stuttgart saw few give Ireland a chance of beating one of the tournament favourites but beat them they did, thanks to an early goal from Ray Houghton.
In fact, Ireland regularly gave England a bloodied nose against the odds in the late 1980s and early 90s.
When they next met at the group stage of the 1990 World Cup, England were again big favourites but, despite an early goal from Gary Lineker, Kevin Sheedy equalised to earn the boys from the Emerald Isle a point.
They were then drawn together again in the qualifying group for Euro 92.
Again both contests ended 1-1 with Ireland, managed by the legendary England World Cup winner, Jack Charlton, coming from behind on both occasions.
In Dublin, a Tony Cascarino header cancelled out David Platt’s opener.
Then at Wembley, Niall Quinn pounced to equalise after a deflected strike from England full-back Lee Dixon.
Ireland were also good value for their 1-0 lead over England in a friendly in February 1995 when the match was abandoned because of the behaviour of a group of English fans as hooliganism reared its head.
After that, they didn’t meet again for another 18 years as two more friendly draws followed on English soil in 2013 and 2015.
The gap between the two nations nowadays, though, is far greater and the Irish team is largely made up of players from outside the top echelon of club sides.
That was evident in their most recent meeting, in September, when Declan Rice and Jack Grealish – both who qualified to play for the Republic but opted for England – scored inside the first 26 minutes to put the Three Lions in front after which they eased home without over-exerting themselves.
Overall, England have won nine of their meetings with a further seven draws.
Their very first game came in September 1946, a friendly in Dublin won by a solitary goal from the great Tom Finney.
Betting Tip
Given everything mentioned above, you simply cannot back anything but an England triumph.
Although injury absences mean this is far from a full-strength line-up, the sheer choice at Carsley’s disposal means his reserves are still stronger than Ireland’s strongest XI and, with the added incentive of needing to win to top the group, that combination should be than sufficient to secure maximum points.
After looking at the SBOTOP Nations League betting odds, my *** tip is Over 3.00 goals @ 2.13.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT))
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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