Republic of Ireland are set to announce that England will play a prestige friendly international in Dublin in the summer of 2015, sources have told ESPN FC.
Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief executive John Delaney is expected to confirm the date of the England game at the Aviva Stadium imminently, with a May or June fixture tipped to attract a sell-out crowd in the Irish capital.
It will represent England’s first visit to Ireland since the infamous abandoned fixture in February 1995, when visiting fans rioted and forced the game to be called off after just 28 minutes.
While the England rugby teams have played numerous times in Dublin over recent years, the political and sporting significance of Roy Hodgson’s football team playing in the Irish capital cannot be under-estimated.
The fixture appears to have been agreed in principle by the FAI and their English counterparts when they arranged a friendly between the two nations at Wembley last May, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
“There was a reciprocal agreement for them to come to Dublin,” Delaney said. “I thought it was right that we played the first match at Wembley because the last time we played them was the 1995 game.”
There have been suggestions that England could have played a game in Dublin as part of their preparations for this summer’s World Cup finals, but it seems that the game will now be played next year.
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Uruguay Primera Division Wrap: Fenix move clear
Fenix stretched their lead in the Uruguay Primera Division with a 2-0 win at Wanderers in a top-of-the-table clash.
Rodrigo Rojo and Maximiliano Callorda scored either side of half-time for Fenix, as they moved three points clear of Wanderers at the top of the league standings, while third-placed Nacional lost 3-0 at River Plate to drop four points behind the leaders.
Fenix had been held to a 1-1 draw by Defensor Sporting in round four, which allowed Wanderers to join them on 10 points out in front in Uruguay.
But Wanderers could not stay with Fenix on Saturday with the visitors sounding an early warning to the rest of the Uruguayan top tier.
Despite conceding possession to the home side for most of the match, Fenix were lethal when given the opportunity to shoot, with Rojo converting one of his side’s three shots on target in the 17th minute, while substitute Callorda slotted another with eight minutes remaining.
Fenix moved to 13 points from five matches and a goal difference of plus nine with Wanderers (10 points, plus five) in second.
On Sunday, Jonathan Ramirez, Martin Alaniz and Leandro Rodriguez all scored for River Plate in their comfortable win over Nacional, who lost their second straight match in the Clausura campaign to sit third with nine points.
Nacional’s arch-rivals Penarol, who are set to play their game in hand on Wednesday, sit fourth with eight points from four matches after beating Apertura champions Danubio 2-0 on Saturday.
Defensor Sporting trumped Miramar Misiones 2-1 on Sunday, while Liverpool thrashed El Tanque Sisley 4-1.
In other results, Racing defeated Cerro 2-1, Juventud cruised to a 3-0 victory at Rentistas and Cerro Largo edged out Sud America 1-0.
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