Before his engagement in Ireland, Hallgrimsson was a coach in Qatar and the national team manager of Jamaica. Last week, the Icelander made international headlines by stating, in light of the Gaza conflict, before the 3-0 victory in the match against Israel: "We are not playing with genocide, we are playing against genocide."
The Irish will play their home game against the Israelis on Sunday in Backa Topola, Serbia, because public sentiment in their own country is too strong. Media appointments with Irish players have been suspended during the current international break to protect them from the political debate.
Ireland's most prominent player is goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, once a backup goalie at Liverpool and now a club teammate of ÖFB U21 prospect Jannik Schuster at the surprising English team Brentford. Schuster in the 90minuten interview >>>
Additionally, two more Premier League professionals, defenders Dara O'Shea (Ipswich Town) and Jake O'Brien (Everton), are in the squad. Brentford captain Nathan Collins is missing due to a calf injury.
More than half of the players earn their living in the second English league, while top attacker Troy Parrott has been playing for Betis Sevilla since the summer.
Positive Record Against Ireland
The Irish are 55th in the FIFA world rankings, 32 positions behind Austria. However, the ÖFB team has not won in Ireland since June 1995. Back then, Toni Polster (2) and Andreas Ogris scored in a 3-1 victory in the Euro qualifiers at Lansdowne Road.
In the successor stadium, opened in 2010, which can accommodate 51,700 spectators and is called Dublin Arena in UEFA competitions, there have since been two draws in World Cup qualifiers – a 2-2 in 2013 thanks to a late goal from David Alaba and a 1-1 in June 2017 in the most recent encounter.
Prior to that, in November 2016, under coach Marcel Koller, there was a painful 0-1 home defeat in Vienna in the World Cup qualifiers. In the overall record, however, Austria still clearly has the upper hand with nine wins, four draws, and three defeats to date. The goal difference in the 16 duels with Ireland so far is 37:19.
In Ireland, the record is much tighter at 17:16. In the eight games on the Green Isle, the Austrians have three wins, three draws, and two defeats.
