David Sneyd reports from Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina

An editorial note re: The 42’s reporting on the Uefa Nations League matches between Ireland and Israel is available to read here.

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JASON KNIGHT HAS become the first player to declare that the Republic of Ireland should not play Israel.

The midfielder was frank with his personal opinion on the matter following the 1-0 defeat to Kosovo in Pristina.

Captain Dara O’Shea said in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday that the squad would wait until Friday to meet and discuss their feelings before the scheduled fixture in Debrecen on Sunday.

The Stop The Game protest group has gathered momentum since Ireland were drawn with Israel in the Nations League earlier this year. While Uefa have allowed Israel to continue to play despite the ongoing devastation in Gaza, and the FAI insisted the games would go ahead, increasing pressure has come on the players to act.

“Look, it’s difficult, the manager, and Dara, and Nathan [Collins] spoke well about it, I don’t think the game should be going ahead but it is going ahead. We’ll have a deeper talk about it and what that means, we’ll get our thoughts as a group and go from there.

“I think it was a difficult one. It’s obviously big talk in Ireland. I have been focusing on my football in England in the Championship. But I knew this was coming so I had a think about it.

“We had chats about it with the players, and more senior players on what the step will be. Now we’re here, we can have a really in depth talk of what that means and what the consequences are. We’ll do that [on Friday] and go from there.

“I am quite experienced. None of us have gone through this scenario before but I’d like to think I’m experienced, thick skin and can get through most things and that is what I will try and do. I’ll try and focus on the football as much as I can. I’ll give my view and my thoughts on when I see fit, but I’ll be trying to focus on the football as much as possible.”