Ireland beats Israel 0-3 in the Nations League with gestures of solidarity towards Gaza

With a black armband on the right arm of each Irish player in solidarity with “all the lives lost in Gaza” and with their heads bowed when the Israeli national anthem played, the Irish footballers finally played and clearly won their duel on the second day of the Nations League B (0-3). The match competition was actually reduced to 25 minutes. The team led by Heimir Hallgrimsson did not need more to score three goals and settle the result at full speed, with undoubted superiority over the Israeli team on the field of play at the practically empty Nagyerdei stadium in the Hungarian city of Debrecen.

Between gestures before the start of the match, such as the head tilted downwards when the Israeli anthem was played, the captains not shaking hands in the initial greeting and their black armbands visible, Ireland barely took 13 minutes to score the 0-1, through Betis striker Troy Parrott, who beat the rival goal with an easy right-footed shot in the area. That goal was in the 13th minute. The 0-2 barely came two minutes later, when Adam Idah finished off the goal with a good right foot after a great pass to his unmarked Jack Moylan, who then scored 0-3 already in the 25th minute, with a drive in which he left several rivals with unexpected ease until he finished off the third goal.

There was always a latent tension during each duel, visible at times, even with the 0-3 for Ireland, with some sporadic individual confrontation between players from both teams that came to nothing due to the intervention of the referee or teammates. Israel's clearest chance was denied with a magnificent save by Caoimhin Kelleher. The match has been in doubt for days. The Irish team's boycott of Israel and the suspension of the match hovered over the match until the day before, when, in the team's own hotel, a "significant majority" of Irish players voted in favor of playing the match, according to their coach, although there were also players with reservations regarding their participation and goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu refused to play. “My decision is based exclusively on my personal belief that killing innocent people is wrong,” the goalkeeper explained in a statement on his social networks to explain his refusal to play against Israel both this Sunday and in the next match between both teams, which will be played on October 4 in Serbia behind closed doors, as decided last July by the Irish Football Federation, by choosing to play these matches on a neutral field, instead of boycotting them completely.

"No one is comfortable playing these games for many reasons. We are trying to deal with it the best way we can at the moment," Hallgrimsson said on Saturday. "By playing, we are not accepting what is happening in Gaza. By playing, the players are not supporting what is happening in Gaza," the coach insisted on Saturday.

Ireland added its first three points this Sunday in group B3 of the Nations League, with the victory against Israel, which has zero points.