Josh Cullen ahead of England clash: ‘We're in a good place and I'm confident about the game’

Macdara Ferris reports from Wembley

One of the changes that Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson has brought in with Ireland is that where possible he will train in Dublin on the eve of an away game before travelling to their match day destination.

So like the away game in Helsinki earlier in the campaign, on Saturday Ireland trained at FAI HQ before flying out of Dublin. The usual pre-match training session in the stadium on the eve of the game has been replaced by a morning one in Abbotstown away from any prying opposition eyes.

On Saturday evening the full Ireland squad after flying from Dublin went to Wembley to walk the pitch and get an idea of the scale of the venue. Many had their phones out taking videos of the impressive 90,000 capacity stadium, especially the cohort of the players who haven’t played in the venue previously.

For Josh Cullen, it is a return to a stadium where he had a memorable day earlier in his career. He was part of the Charlton Athletic side who beat Sunderland in the 2019 EFL League One play-off final to gain promotion to the Championship.

“It was a while ago now but I obviously have great memories coming back here having won a game here at club level,” said Cullen who is set to earn his 40th cap on Sunday. “It’s nice coming back.”

Greece won for the first time at Wembley when England last lined out at the venue. Ireland are looking to do similar and make their own history as, although they have beaten England twice, the Boys in Green have never won at Wembley.

“Obviously it would mean a lot, that goes without saying,” said the Burnley midfielder when asked by extratime.com what it would mean to win at Wembley. 

“I don’t think it would mean any more than the Finland game the other night,” said Cullen speaking about the 1-0 win over the Finns at the Aviva Stadium last Thursday night. 

“Any time we pull on the jersey we want to win, it means everything for that specific game. We’ll approach it in the same manner as we do all the other games.”

Cullen wasn’t part of the playing squad when Ireland lost 3-0 in Wembley in the covid behind-closed-doors game in November 2020.
 

“I remember meeting the team at the hotel literally straight after the last game. I was at Anderlecht at the time so I got the train across. I was really happy to be brought into the squad and just wanted to make sure I stayed there. 

“Thankfully I’ve managed to play a decent amount of games since then and be part of the squad and hopefully will be so for a long time as well.”

Reflecting on his time with Ireland to date Cullen says the squad has “developed” a lot since then.

“There was a transition period in terms of how different the squad looks now in terms of the personnel compared to back then, a lot of young players have come through.

“I think we’re in a really strong place now and obviously the previous manager (Stephen Kenny) did a lot of work and now the new boss has come in and we’ve continued that and continued to build. 

“I feel we’re in as strong a place as we have been. It was a very young side that's had a few years to develop now. We're in a good place and I'm confident about the game."

Heimir Hallgrimsson declares himself happy with his team’s progress since last England clash https://t.co/WM4QLlLBHepic.twitter.com/SUnYGtgDju

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) November 16, 2024