By In the opening Nations League match of the season in Dublin on Saturday, Declan Rice and Jack Grealish’s goals silenced their Ireland tormentors and gave England interim manager Lee Carsley a fantastic debut.
After Gareth Southgate was fired, Carsley’s first game as manager saw goals from Rice and Grealish, who both turned down Ireland to play for England.
Following England’s devastating loss to Spain in the July Euro 2024 final, Southgate resigned.
Carsley has stepped over temporarily while the Football Association searches for a long-term Southgate replacement. Carsley led the England Under-21s to victory in the European Championship last year.
Among the front-runners are reportedly former Chelsea manager Graham Potter and Newcastle manager Eddie Howe.
Carsley, nevertheless, was more optimistic about his chances of getting the job because of England’s assured performance in the Nations League Group B2 victory at Aviva Stadium.
The 50-year-old made a daring declaration of intent, as his daring England were a long cry from the stuffy team who, under Southgate, twice finished as runners-up at the Euros while rarely playing to their full ability.
Setting England’s first Dublin victory since 1964 in perspective is necessary considering how weak Ireland’s opposition was.
As a licensed dentist, Ireland’s new manager Heimir Hallgrimsson might discover that rebuilding his faltering team is a more agonizing task than receiving a root canal.
Carsley refused to perform “God Save the King” before kickoff, a contentious choice that infuriated the more patriotic segments of the English fandom.
Carsley, who was born in Birmingham, was able to earn 40 caps for his native Ireland because to his Irish grandparents, but he revealed on Friday that he has never performed the national anthem because he would rather concentrate on the game in front of him.
The controversy surrounding Carsley’s anthem stance will soon be forgotten if he continues to put on this kind of captivating performance. Carsley’s next game is on Tuesday at Wembley against Finland.
Only England had traveled to Dublin twice in 29 years before to this, following the cancellation of their 1995 friendly due to unruly visiting supporters at Lansdowne Road.
Before the game, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris exchanged football shirts in an effort to foster “a new era of friendship” between nations with troubled political histories.
Even after switching allegiances to England, Rice and Grealish faced criticism from the 50,000-strong crowd because they had previously represented Ireland at the senior and Under-21 levels, respectively.
The comments didn’t disturb either of them as Grealish, who was left out of the Euro team, took advantage of the opportunity to shine as England’s number 10 in Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden’s absence. Rice was the star of the show.
When Carsley inadvertently sat on the Ireland bench prior to kickoff, it became clear how nervous he was, but England calmed their inexperienced manager in the eleventh minute.
Anthony Gordon, a winger for Newcastle who played just one minute at the Euros, raced onto Trent Alexander-Arnold’s deep pass and Caoimhin Kelleher stopped his shot.
Gordon returned the ball to Harry Kane, whose shot deflected to Rice, who finished expertly from 12 yards into the top corner.
Rice declined to celebrate and instead adopted a diplomatic stance.
With significantly more creativity and flexibility of movement than they were able to muster under Southgate, England scored again in the 26th minute.
Following a pass exchange between Alexander-Arnold and Kobbie Mainoo, Grealish completed a fluid play by meeting Rice’s cutback with a superb strike into the bottom corner from ten yards out.
As he celebrated in front of England’s supporters and put his fingers in his ears to indicate he wasn’t worried by the vitriol from the Irish, Grealish’s joy was evident.
Although Ireland gained some momentum in the second half and England had to buckle down further, they never threatened to blow the lead because Carsley’s audition got off to the ideal start.
