{"id":645190,"date":"2026-10-05T06:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645190\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T06:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:52:10","slug":"heimir-hallgrimsson-when-you-are-lying-on-the-ground-you-can-see-who-is-kicking-you-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645190\/","title":{"rendered":"Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson: \u2018When you are lying on the ground you can see who is kicking you\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPolitical or non-related questions about the football match will not be entertained,\u201d stated Uefa<\/a>\u2019s head of communications Brian Orsini before Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson<\/a>\u2019s press conference after Ireland<\/a>\u2019s 1-1 draw in Backa Topola against Israel. The Uefa official flew into Serbia following heated scenes at the Irish press conference on Saturday. <\/p>\n

His presence seemed to have the desired effect, as all was calm in the briefing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like a friendly,\u201d said Hallgr\u00edmsson. \u201cThere were no people watching. There was no spark, especially for players playing their fourth game [in 10 days]. <\/p>\n

\u201cSix international flights, playing in four countries, and all the things that have been going on … We needed the same spark that we got in the Aviva for the Austria game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, the high of last Thursday\u2019s 2-2 draw against Austria in front 45,000 fans in Dublin could not be replicated inside an empty stadium. <\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson repeated his praise of two Ireland players in particular, Gavin Bazunu and Finn Azaz, although neither played in Serbia. Bazunu opted not to line out against Israel, while Hallgr\u00edmsson decided not to play Azaz in either game. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith Finn, we spoke a lot together. It was just tough on him. I could feel it when I spoke to him. It was tough for him that we were wearing black armbands. It was tough on him that we looked down when the national anthem was sung. It tested him more than all of us. I just felt it was better to leave him out today than play him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson intends to select both players in the Ireland squad next month against Austria and at Euro 2028. <\/p>\n

\u201cI surely hope so,\u201d Hallgr\u00edmsson said when asked if concerns about Azaz\u2019s international future have been allayed. \u201cI have not asked. He wants to be with us in Euro 2028.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s nature is to find the positive from every situation. Sure enough, he highlighted the appointment of Gerard Perry, a clinical psychologist and former referee, since last week\u2019s 3-0 defeat of Israel in Debrecen. <\/p>\n

\"IrelandIreland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson speaks with Jack Moylan during Sunday’s game against Israel. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cOne hundred per cent, this team is stronger for what we\u2019ve come through,\u201d he added. \u201cThe bond between players has grown so much. <\/p>\n

\u201cLeaders are born in tough times, when the true characters step up. In these times, you find your true friends who you want to work with in the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it was tough on us, I think we will look back on these two weeks as a defining moment. Every problem from now on will seem lesser. That is the gain from all this, we need to look at it positively, this negative two weeks. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is also the time to find your enemies. When you are lying on the ground you can see who is kicking you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson noted that the leaking of information to the media from within the Ireland camp, mainly in Hungary last week, is something that must be identified and stopped in the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can definitely fix our systems. There was a lot of leakage of information. A closed vote was in the papers in real time. We don\u2019t want to go to the Euros with my team in the papers before we pick it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about finding your friends, and your enemies, and to get them away. There is a lot of opportunities from this.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI\u2019ve been fresher. It\u2019s been tough. I\u2019ve learned a lot myself, personally, in these two weeks. I learned not to mix my feelings, my emotions as a person into me as a leader, as a spokesman for the association. It was difficult sometimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, I shouldn\u2019t have told you where I stand about what is happening in Gaza, that was a mistake. My opinion and feelings should be set aside as a leader of a group. <\/p>\n

\u201cI normally journal, so there is a lot to read when I\u2019ve some time off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted the window is finished. Credit to the players, they were amazing. I wish that no international team goes through the tough times we have experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cPolitical or non-related questions about the football match will not be entertained,\u201d stated Uefa\u2019s head of communications Brian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4700,61,60,266856,59269,1842,112],"class_list":["post-645190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-v-israel","tag-nations-league","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}