England caretaker coach Lee Carsley has ruled out singing the national anthem before kickoff against the Republic of Ireland.
Former Everton midfielder Carsley was born in Birmingham but represented the Republic of Ireland at senior international level.
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Ahead of their Nations League tie on Saturday in Dublin, he insisted: “This (singing the anthem) is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland.
“The gap between your warm-up, you’re coming on to the pitch and the delay with the anthems. So it’s something that I have never done. I was always really focused on the game and my first actions of the game. I really found that in that period I was wary about my mind wandering off.
“I was really focused on the football and I have taken that into coaching.
“We had the national anthem with the Under 21s also and I am in a zone at that point. I am thinking about how the opposition are going to set up and our first actions within the game.
“I fully respect both anthems and understand how much they mean to both countries.”
