Wales and Ireland will collide on matchday 1 of the new UEFA Nations League. The two teams are in League B Group 4 alongside Denmark. The team which comes top of the group will be promoted to League A while the bottom side will be relegated to Group C.
The tournament was devised to give more meaningful games to Europe’s international football teams. From the start, it looks like it has succeeded in giving both Wales and Ireland a top-notch match so quickly after the World Cup.
Ryan Giggs will lead the Welsh into the fixture in Cardiff. The former Wales’ midfielder hopes to get the national team back to the heights it experienced at Euro 2016. Unfortunately, Giggs hasn’t seen little in the way of recent success in charge of the Welsh. Giggs has won just one out of his last three matches as Wales’ manager.
Martin O’Neill will take a young and inexperienced Ireland team to Wales for the first match of the tournament. The manager wants to bring in a ‘new wave’ of Irish talent. The Irish have had several stalwarts in the side for the last few years, and O’Neill wants to uncover fresh players.
l injured. Meanwhile, Harry Arter has left the squad after a training ground argument with assistant manager Roy Keane. In addition, Ireland look likely to miss out on young star Declan Rice as he mauls over whether to play for England rather than the Irish.
The last two matches between the sides have been uneventful. Just one goal was scored during the 180 minutes of football. That one goal was tallied by Ireland, who won against Wales in Cardiff during World Cup qualifying.
Wales have fewer player issues to worry about. Gareth Bale will lead the line and he will be favoured to get a goal against Ireland to start the UEFA Nations League campaign. Defenders Ashley Williams and Paul Dummet are both set to feature. Meanwhile, midfielders Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey are fit to start for Giggs.
Wales have the better squad going into Thursday night’s UEFA Nations League clash. Despite Ireland having the better recent record, Wales will pick up three points in Cardiff. It will be a low scoring game as neither team will muster much firepower. Most importantly for Wales will be the win, which they will obtain.