International friendly: England v Ireland
Kick-off: 8pm, Thursday. Venue: Wembley. How to follow: The Irish Times liveblog will begin at 7.30pm. On TV: Live on RTÉ2 and ITV
Stephen Kenny probably had enough to contend with coming into a game against England without another case of coronavirus weakening his squad. Having been careful at his pre-match press conference to put the impact the pandemic is having on the early stages of his own time as Ireland manager into some perspective, however, the Dubliner revealed one of its previously unknown effects.
“I had this idea when I took over,” he said, embarking on one of the unexpected tangents for which his press engagements have long been known, and which occasionally take them to their most interesting places, “that I’d bring in musicians in, really good musicians... because there is a lot of downtime... and make it a place where the players... have a vibrant... 10 days and 11 can be long enough time in the hotel…”
He never came close to fleshing the whole thing out before moving on to other ways in which he had hoped to build the squad’s collective sense of identity and the obvious reasons why none of it ever happened but we knew where he was going with it.
When the first follow up question was a mischievous inquiry about the particular musicians he had in mind, Kenny suddenly seemed to know where this was how headed. The 49-year-old chuckled his way through a kick-for-touch reply while, it appeared, already imagining himself mocked up as one of Lankum’s Lynch brothers or Luke Kelly on Thursday’s back pages. If it’s the worst thing to befall him over the coming days, though, he’ll be doing alright.
Promising performances
Having lost both Callum Robinson, to a positive coronavirus test result, and Aaron Connolly to a hamstring injury over the past 48 hours, the manager’s hopes that his side might add goals to what have been generally promising performances could be in better shape.
Seani Maguire comes in to join strikers Ronan Curtis, Adam Idah and James Collins as the options up front but with two goals in just over 20 international games between them, it may well be a challenging night.
As he weighs up the desire to do well in a friendly of disproportionate importance to supporters, with the need to win at least one of the competitive outings to come over the next six days, there are calls for Kenny to make in most other areas too. The absence of Enda Stevens has prompted a late call for Swansea’s Ryan Manning but the 24-year-old, who has played very little first team football this season, will not join the squad for another day or two and so the most obvious options are to switch Matt Doherty from one side to the other and bring back Séamus Coleman or hand Dara O’Shea another start.
In midfield, meanwhile, the sense this week that Harry Arter would get the chance to make a more indelible mark on the Irish set up was diminished as Kenny revealed the midfielder is struggling slightly with a calf strain. The Dubliner did not make it sound too serious but it might well be enough to prevent him starting at Wembley.
England, by comparison, are in reasonably good shape despite losing players themselves over recent days, most worryingly Joe Gomez whose training ground injury on Wednesday Gareth Southgate sounded genuinely concerned about at his own pre-match event. The manager responded to a suggestion that the defender might have done his cruciate by saying it was best not to speculate ahead of the scan results but it didn’t sound good from a Liverpool perspective.
His side comes into the game off the back of a really poor Nations League display against Denmark although the suspensions arising out of the red cards shown to Harry Maguire and Reece James don’t kick in until after this meeting with Ireland. As things stand, the manager and players remain uncertain of where, or even if, next week’s group game against Iceland will go ahead. Talks will take place with government on Thursday, Southgate said, and there is a possibility that the fixture might take place in Germany.
This, though, will provide the opportunity to have a look at his options with goalkeeper Nick Pope the first confirmed starter. Jude Bellingham’s progress at Borussia Dortmund earns him a first senior call-up although the suggestion is that it is as much for the experience with Southgate observing that “match minutes would be a bonus”.
Senior debut
The teenager might have to hope that England are winning well through the second half, on course for something, perhaps, like their 3-0 friendly win over Wales last month, if he is to get his senior debut. That is possible given the respective strengths of the starting lineups but it would be at odds with the relatively recent history of this fixture – six drawn games in 20 years and a certain win in Stuttgart for Ireland before that – something that has tended to defy tangible measures like combined market value.
However, Ireland will surely be happy to come away having extended the unbeaten run and if they do, the lack of a goal would hardly attract too much comment on this occasion.
Kenny, in any case, seemed genuinely taken with the prospect of a fixture that is lacking some of its usual prestige due it being played behind closed doors but then it will, he revealed to some surprise, be his first ever time at Wembley stadium.
“I said if I was going to go, I’d better go as a manager, that’s the best time to go,” he said with a smile on Wednesday. It might mean little in the grander scheme of things, but leaving on Thursday night with a positive result would be a welcome boost in these difficult times.
England (possible): Pope (Burnley); Keane (Everton), Maguire (Manchester United), Mings (Aston Villa); James (Chelsea), Winks (Tottenham Hotspur), Mount (Chelsea), Saka (Arsenal); Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Grealish (Aston Villa).
Republic of Ireland (possible): Randolph (West Ham); Coleman (Everton), Duffy (Celtic), Egan (Sheffield United), O'Shea (West Brom); McCarthy (Crystal Palace), Molumby (Brighton); Brady (Burnley), Hendrick (Newcastle), McClean (Stoke City); Idah (Norwich City).
Referee: C del Cerro (Spain).
