Pressure to boycott Israel game grows as Ireland preparations stall

The Ireland team’s news conference and training session the day before its first Nations League game against Israel have been delayed as pressure to boycott the matches grows. Journalists in Debrecen, Hungary – where Israel’s “home” game is to be played Sunday – were left waiting Saturday after being told the news conference was being pushed back until after training. That was 15 minutes before it was supposed to begin. Training was also significantly delayed, however, with Irish broadcaster RTE reporting the players were still in their hotel more than two hours after the training session was supposed to begin. RTE reported that some players had decided they did not want to play the games.