Ireland vs England LIVE: Nations League team news and updates as Carsley era begins

England and Ireland have only met 17 times in the past, with the first match dating back to 1946. The Three Lions have won six of these matches, with Ireland winning two and nine ending as draws.

Perhaps the most notable meeting between the two came at the 1990 World Cup, when Bobby Robson’s side drew 1-1 to an Ireland team managed by English World Cup winner Jack Charlton in Group F.

The last meeting between the two came in November 2020, when England won 3-0 in a friendly at Wembley courtesy of goals from Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

For some around the Irish squad, it’s still strange to be preparing for a match against Lee Carsley’s England. Ireland made a strong push for the admired coach, since he has 40 caps for the country. A solid Ireland midfielder is now the most important figure in English football culture, and will have a tricolour by his name if he takes England to the World Cup.

Carsley was born in Birmingham but qualified for Ireland through his Cork grandmother, and spoke last week of naturally feeling both nationalities. The same applies to many for Saturday’s game in Dublin, most notably Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, who make up at least nine England regulars over the last half-decade that could have also represented Ireland. It is almost an inevitable inversion of the fixture’s history, when it was Ireland that most benefited from the country’s diaspora to Britain.

That history has been driven by one of the most complicated relationships in international football – at least on the Irish side. Among those complications are “800 years” of British occupation; a century of post-colonialism; decades of the English top flight serving as one of Ireland’s primary cultural influences as well as hundreds of players.

Republic of Ireland XI: Kelleher; O’Shea, Collins, Scales; Coleman, Smallbone, Brown, Brady; Parrott, Ferguson, Szmodics.

England XI: Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Maguire, Stones, Livramento; Rice, Mainoo; Grealish, Eze, Saka; Kane.

New Ireland manger Heimir Halgrimsson has named his first ever Ireland squad too, and it includes a call-up for Leicester winger Kasey McAteer.

Burnley’s Josh Cullen has pulled out through injury, while Gavin Bazunu also misses out with a longer-term Achilles injury.

Seamus Coleman and Evan Ferguson are both named in the squad, while Championship pair Callum Robinson and Alan Browne return after recent injuries.

In addition, Jayson Molumby has received his first call-up since November 2023 after a foot injury, and Chiedozie Ogbene and Nathan Collins, who were both ruled out of summer matches through injury, also return to the squad. New Ipswich signings Sammie Szmodics is also called up.

Ahead of the line-ups coming in at around 3.30pm, here’s a reminder of the early team news for both sides.

Lee Carsley named an England squad with a very different makeup to that which fans had become used to under Southgate, with Tino Livramento, Angel Gomes, Morgan Gibbs-White and Noni Madueke four uncapped players that he has called up.

Players including Kyle Walker and Marcus Rashford have missed out, though there is a return to the squad for Jack Grealish, and Nick Pope replaces Aaron Ramsdale.

Aside from those changes, the rest of the squad – including Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ebere Eze and others – were all present in Germany for Euro 2024.

In Lee Carsley’s first act as interim England manager, which was an introductory press conference, he said “I understand how an international window works”. He certainly does now.

Plenty has been made of this in the media in the build-up to the match.

England manager and former Ireland player Lee Carsley says he won’t sing either anthem for Saturday’s match in Dublin, because that’s always been his stance throughout his career – while stating he hasn’t spoken individually to Declan Rice or Jack Grealish about potentially getting booed.

The interim English boss says he has spoken more generally to the squad about a potentially fervent atmosphere, as England play a competitive game in Ireland for the first time since 1990. Anglo-Irish relations have weighed over the build-up to the game, especially with so many of Carsley’s squad – including the manager himself – having an Irish background.

Lee Carsley has no concerns about playing Declan Rice or Jack Grealishin Dublin as the former Republic of Ireland international prepares to lead England out as interim manager for the first time.

Saturday’s Nations League opener at the Aviva Stadium marks the start of a new era just 55 days after England lost a second successive European Championship final.

Gareth Southgate called time on his eight-year reign after the narrow loss to Spain, with England Under-21s boss Carsley promoted to caretaker senior boss as the Football Association considers its next steps.

The Irish federation maybe just needed to go a bit stronger. The Football Association of Ireland had made Carsley its top target for the manager role, on account of his fine coaching reputation, as well as his background of having 40 caps for Ireland.

The 50-year-old has a grandfather from Cork, which gave him a similar decision to make to the time when Jack Charlton’s coaching staff approached him about joining the Irish Under-21s back in 1995. Carsley decided to go for it then. This time, though, he wasn’t so sure.

So how has Lee Carsley ended up as England’s interim manager?

The Birmingham-born coach had a 17-year playing career, and most notably featured in the Premier League for Everton and Derby County, having started his career at the latter.

The defensive midfielder made his debut in 1994 for the Rams in what was then called the First Division (now known as the Championship). He became a regular starter at Pride Park, helping his side to promotion to the Premier League in 1995/96.

The most successful spell of his career came between 2002 and 2008 while playing for Everton, with the Toffees finishing as high as fourth and sixth during his time at Goodison.

At international level, Carsley represented the Republic of Ireland, making 40 appearances between 1997 and 2008.

The 50-year-old retired in 2011, with his last club being Coventry City. Having worked on his coaching badges while at Everton, Carsley was made manager of Coventry U18s later in 2011.

His first involvement with England came as a coach for the U19s in 2015, and he went on to become head coach of the U20s in 2020 after holding various youth-level development roles within the FA.

In July 2021, Carsley was appointed as the U21s head coach, winning the European Championship in 2023 after beating Spain 1-0 in the final with a team that included Cole Palmer, Angel Gomes, Anthony Gordon, Morgan Gibbs-White and Levi Colwill.