Ireland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson admitted he was at a loss for words after watching his team rout England 5-0 in the second half.
“The first half was as we wanted, but it’s easy to say we had a good first half, but when you lose 5-0 you can’t say anything.”
Asked if the red card was the start of the result, he said: “We had no idea. It was six or eight minutes of madness and it ended with a penalty. It’s one thing to lose the ball, it’s another not to react and to lose a penalty, to lose a player, it’s a shock. It’s 1-0 and then in front of you you concede the second one and I just felt upset at that moment. After that there was no going back.”
“We gave up. It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and criticize the players, but it was a crazy moment that ruined everything. Not only the plan, but the momentum and the fight seemed to be taken away from them.”
“There’s almost nothing to UFABET say now. You try to look at the positive side, and that’s the first half.”
As a result, Ireland now faces a relegation play-off to remain in the Nations League’s second tier. Despite the setback, Heimir Hallgrimsson highlighted the positives from the first half while conceding that his team struggled to regroup after the early second-half setbacks. Concluding on a somber note, he stated, “Excuses are pathetic after losing 5-0,” and urged his squad to bounce back stronger.