The Republic of Ireland manager, Heimir Hallgrímsson, has claimed “a lot of lies” were told over the goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu’s decision to withdraw from the Nations League game against Israel last weekend, and he does not anticipate any problems with the second match against them going ahead on Sunday.
Ireland are one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, and protests calling for the team to boycott the fixture prompted Bazunu to pull out of both games between the two countries.
The match last Sunday, which Ireland won 3-0, went ahead after a majority of their squad voted to play on the eve of the away fixture in Hungary. Media reports indicated that the squad was fractured after the meeting and vote, and that Bazunu had been insulted by teammates over his decision.
The goalkeeper is available for the home game with Austria on Thursday, but will not take part on Sunday in the rematch with Israel, which the Football Association of Ireland has moved to Serbia behind closed doors.
“Gavin is a great lad, I’ve always had a good relationship with him and it’s probably tougher for him than the other players, but they have really welcomed him,” Hallgrímsson told a press conference on Wednesday.
“There’s been a lot of lies said around all of this, but we welcomed him back and he’s taking part. Amazing, I think it shows his character, as well, to be with us. So I want to give him praise for that. I want to give the players praise for how welcome they have been with him,” he added. Life goes on. He’s a part of this group and I think that shows how strong the bond is between these players that even a thing like this is not breaking us.”
The Ireland midfielder Finn Azaz has also been the centre of attention given his Israeli heritage, and remained on the bench for the win against Israel. Hallgrímsson was asked if Azaz would be involved in the fixture on Sunday. “We are focusing on this one [against Austria], you can probably ask me that question later on,” the manager said.
“Finn has shown incredible emotional control and awareness. He probably is one of the people I admire the most in how he conducted himself in all of this.”
The game against Austria in Dublin on Thursday is expected to bring further protests over Ireland’s decision to play Israel. Hallgrímsson said: “I am focused on football, I’ll let others think about security. The FAI has said we are playing both games and we will fulfil that. It has been really, really tough, but I surely think that in time we will have seen that we took more right decisions than wrong ones.”
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