Daniel Wolfram
After the captain of Israel’s national team said he would not talk about politics, he went on a tirade against the country of Ireland.
As reported here on Dagens.com, there were heavy internal discussions about whether Ireland’s national football team should boycott their game against Israel in the UEFA Nations League.
The game eventually ended up being played on neutral ground in Hungary due to the ongoing situation in the Middle East.
The Irish players bowed their heads during the Israeli national anthem and did not shake hands with the players before or after the game. The Israeli players did not take that well.
Solomon hits back after defeat
After the game, which Ireland won 3-0, the captain of the Israeli team, Manor Solomon, went on a tirade against Ireland as a country and as a football team.
“Our country is 10 times better than Ireland,” Solomon stated bluntly.
Before the Nations League kicked off, Solomon was adamant about not discussing current hot-button political topics concerning his home country. That seemed to go out the window once the game was concluded.
“If I say what I think about them, I’ll probably be banned for a few games, so I don’t want to say what I think about them. Obviously they hate us and we don’t like them,” he told Israel’s Sport 5 channel, according to The Guardian.
Allegations of racism from Israeli supporters in the stands
The game will also be remembered for the accusation of racism towards Ireland’s Adam Idah from the Israeli supporters in the stands who had travelled to Hungary.
According to Al Jazeera, the Irish players alleged that the Israeli supporters were making monkey chants and sounds at Idah.
However, UEFA declined to open a formal investigation. The FAI was informed that an inquiry could not proceed because Irish players urged officials to ‘listen’ rather than explicitly invoking the word ‘racism,’ while match referees stated they heard no abuse.
The two teams will play again this Sunday in Serbia. That game is something Manor Solomon is looking forward to. “The next game against them, it’s going to be completely different,” he said, according to The Telegraph. “We will get revenge for this.”
