Rice and Grealish score amid boos in Dublin: both former Ireland players

It is difficult to imagine a more heartfelt football challenge than Ireland-England. At the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, the two national teams face each other for the first day of the Nations League. The atmosphere is very heated right from the anthems, for obvious reasons. Whistles at “God save the King”, sung by all the English except their coach, Lee Carsleyborn in England but naturalized Irish (he also played 39 games for the green national team). On the pitch for the Three Lions there are two other “traitors” for the Dublin fans, Declan Rice e Jack Grealish. The two players, of Irish origin, also wore the national team shirt (Grealish until the U21s, Rice for three friendlies in 2018) before opting for England.

The Declan Rice Story

With Irish citizenship thanks to his grandparents’ origins, born in Cork, after having represented the youth national teams, Rice made his debut with the Irish senior national team in 2018, during the friendly against Turkey. He subsequently played as a starter in two other friendlies, one against France and one against the United States. In August 2018, the midfielder, currently at Arsenal, born in London, came into contact with the FA, a behavior that prompted the two successive Irish coaches, O’Neill and McCarthy, not to call him up again, despite McCarthy having proposed that he become captain. Rice declined the offer and in 2019 declared that he would accept any call-ups from England. He now has 59 appearances, has also been captain on one occasion, and it was in Dublin, in the 12th minute of the first half, that he scored. He didn’t celebrate, he apologized to the stadium. That’s what he did too. Jack Grealishthe other “traitor” (his parents are of Irish origin and he has dual citizenship) returned to the national team after missing the European Championship and scored in the 26th minute. Two “Irishmen” who beat Ireland. Before Rice, the last to have worn the jersey of both national teams was Jack Reynolds between 1892 and 1897.