England beat Ireland 2–0 in the Nations League opener. Next, the EC silver medalist will face Finland on Tuesday.
In the Football Nations League, Finland’s group started with England’s victory over Ireland with 2–0 goals.
Ireland was bitten by its own dogs, so to speak, because those who represented the country in the youth national teams Declan Rice and Jack Grealish were responsible for England’s goals in the opening half.
An interim coach was seen as England’s head coach Lee Carsley. He has previously worked as the head coach of England’s under-21 national team. Gareth Southgate left the position of England’s head coach when the country bowed to European Championship silver in the summer.
– It has been really refreshing this week. It has been wonderful to work with Lee. His colleagues have been great. Training has been really good, Rice comment According to the BBC.
There was also a new name as the head coach of Ireland, an Icelander Heimir Hallgrimsson.
Hallgrimsson is remembered for Iceland’s 2016 EC sensation. At that time, he coached the national team together with Sweden by Lars Lagerbäck with. At that time, Iceland even reached the quarterfinals.
At that time, it was made headlines that Hallgrimsson also works as a dentist. The same thing made headlines in Ireland as well, when an Icelander was appointed head coach of the national team.
Hallgrimsson said that he still runs his own practice in Reykjavík in addition to his coaching work. The dentist’s work serves as a reset for him from the coach’s work.
– I don’t have time for golf or hunting or anything that people do to trade off. Some may think this is strange, Hallgrimsson said according to the Irish Mirror.
England’s opening half performance in particular garnered praise from British experts. England reached the finals of the European Championship this summer, but the way of the game of the head coach at the time, Gareth Southgate, attracted a lot of criticism.
– Sometimes I didn’t enjoy watching England in the European Championships. Now I really enjoy watching them in the opening half. There was a different structure. The wing players were really high. They created chances and were good at pressing. We didn’t see it in the second half but I enjoyed watching the game overall, BBC pundit Paul Robinson stated.
– England dominated in the opening half. We praised their decision-making, quality of play and movement. But in the second half England were woeful, former Ireland captain and current ITV pundit Roy Keane on the other hand, concisely.