Why England boss Lee Carsley will not sing the England national anthem
England manager and former Ireland player Lee Carsley will lead the Three Lions against Ireland on Saturday.
It will be England’s first competitive match in Ireland since 1990, showing how the two nations have had a broken relationship.
The match will be played in Dublin, which will also feature former Ireland players Declan Rice and Jack Grealish.
Carsley, who will take charge of his first game for England, has 40 caps for Ireland.
The manager, as well as some of his players, are expected to get a brutal reception from the home fans.
Speaking before the match, Carsley stated the reason why he will not sing the national anthem of both the teams.
“This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland,” Carlsey said, as quoted by The Independent.
“The gap between your warm-up, your coming on to the pitch, and the delay with the anthems. So, [singing is] something that I have never done. I was always really focused on the game and my first actions of the game. I really found that, in that period, I was wary about my mind wandering off.
“I was really focused on the football, and I have taken that into coaching. We had the national anthem with the under-21s also, and I am in a zone at that point. I am thinking about how the opposition are gonna set up and our first actions within the game. I fully respect both anthems and understand how much they mean to both countries. It’s something I am really respectful of.”
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Apart from Carsley, Rice and Grealish are expected to get most of the attention from the fans.
It feels like Carsley has managed to dodge the situation cleverly with his comments about not signing the national anthem because he wants to focus on the football.
How can singing a national anthem take the focus away from football is something only he knows.
It is expected to be a competitive match between both the nations and Carsley will be hoping to impress in the first match since the Gareth Southgate era.
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