Republic of Ireland players vote to fulfill Nations League matches against Israel - ESPN

The Republic of Ireland's controversial Nations League fixture against Israel will go ahead on Sunday after a «significant majority» of players voted for the games to be played following a four-hour summit Saturday morning in Hungary.

Football Association of Ireland chief David Courell also confirmed one player, widely reported to be goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, «expressed their discomfort with fulfilling this fixture» to manager Heimir Hallgrimsson and «indicated their intent to withdraw» from the squad.

Courell also revealed the team intends to wear black armbands Sunday and refrain from parts of the prematch ceremony, and players have requested to «effectively remove their media obligations» for the rest of the international window.

Earlier Saturday, the Republic of Ireland postponed a scheduled news conference at 10:15 a.m. local time and their training session, both of which took place later in the afternoon following the meeting at the team hotel in Debrecen, Hungary.

«Hopefully you can understand it's a challenging time,» Courell said at the rescheduled news conference, which took place at 3:30 p.m.

«The squad were in Pristina yesterday, an extensive conversation took place where ultimately the consensus was to travel to Hungary. That was something that we all entered into this window with our intention to fulfill these fixtures, and that was the consensus that the group finished on at the end of that two-hour meeting yesterday.

»This morning, a player expressed their discomfort with fulfilling this fixture to the head coach, and indicated their intent to withdraw from the squad. As you can understand, this new variable required time and deliberation for the rest of the squad to consider.

«What proceeded was another