Israel v Ireland: Geopolitics and sport clash as FAI face into a week like no other

Only one of the countries competing in the Uefa Nations League match between the Republic of Ireland and Israel on Sunday in the Hungarian city of Debrecen are certain they want to fulfil the fixture.

“I’m not a psychologist and so I can’t give you an answer, but the preparation has definitely been unorthodox,” Heimir Hallgrímsson said after a grim 1-0 loss to Kosovo on Thursday night indicated that the din around facing Israel (twice in seven days) may have affected his squad in a negative way.