“I hope we will have the same result tomorrow, of course,” said Halgrimsson, referring to Iceland’s 2-1 win at Euro 2016.

“We were just speaking in the car on the way in – that night was special. Everything we did that night succeeded, whether it was tactical, taking our chances, defending our goal, and nothing England tried that night succeeded, so it was just one of those days.

““Hopefully it will come again tomorrow. But we know, even if we have our best game, it still isn’t sure it will lead into a victory against a good team like England.

“We need to make sure we have the best game we can tomorrow and see what that gives us,” he added.

“It’s a totally different team. The individual quality, the technical skills, the speed, of this team is much higher than the one we played.

“Also they are coming off from a good tournament and I would say the biggest difference is they have stayed together for two months now, and we have three days to prepare.

“That is going to be challenging as their routine is so drilled, whether it’s on the pitch or off the pitch. Coming from a good U21 campaign as well, they come on a high here, players playing Champions League day in, day out. It’s good individuals for sure we are facing.”

New Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson is hoping lightning strikes twice as he plots England’s downfall once again.

The 57-year-old was Iceland co-manager with Lars Lagerback when they masterminded a famous 2-1 last-16 victory over England at Euro 2016, in the process sending Roy Hodgson’s men to one of the lowest points in the country’s recent history.

A little more than eight years on, Hallgrimsson is looking to do much the same for Ireland in his first game since replacing Stephen Kenny at the helm when England head for the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

As well as that meeting at Italia ‘90, there have been plenty of other memorable matches between these two, some for all the wrong reasons.

Two years before the 1990 World Cup, the teams met at the 1988 European Championship, with Ireland winning 1-0 thanks to a Ray Houghton header. Charlton later remarked: “Somebody once said that fortune favours the brave, and God, our lads were brave this afternoon”.

A meeting at Lansdowne Road in 1995 is the most infamous fixture between the two, with the fixture abandoned after England fans caused riots having seen their side go 1-0 down in the opening 22 minutes.

England and Ireland have only met 17 times in the past, with the first match dating back to 1946. The Three Lions have won six of these matches, with Ireland winning two and nine ending as draws.

Perhaps the most notable meeting between the two came at the 1990 World Cup, when Bobby Robson’s side drew 1-1 to an Ireland team managed by English World Cup winner Jack Charlton in Group F.

The last meeting between the two came in November 2020, when England won 3-0 in a friendly at Wembley courtesy of goals from Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

For some around the Irish squad, it’s still strange to be preparing for a match against Lee Carsley’s England. Ireland made a strong push for the admired coach, since he has 40 caps for the country. A solid Ireland midfielder is now the most important figure in English football culture, and will have a tricolour by his name if he takes England to the World Cup.

Carsley was born in Birmingham but qualified for Ireland through his Cork grandmother, and spoke last week of naturally feeling both nationalities. The same applies to many for Saturday’s game in Dublin, most notably Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, who make up at least nine England regulars over the last half-decade that could have also represented Ireland. It is almost an inevitable inversion of the fixture’s history, when it was Ireland that most benefited from the country’s diaspora to Britain.

That history has been driven by one of the most complicated relationships in international football – at least on the Irish side. Among those complications are “800 years” of British occupation; a century of post-colonialism; decades of the English top flight serving as one of Ireland’s primary cultural influences as well as hundreds of players.

Republic of Ireland XI: Kelleher; O’Shea, Collins, Scales; Coleman, Smallbone, Brown, Brady; Parrott, Ferguson, Szmodics.

England XI: Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Maguire, Stones, Livramento; Rice, Mainoo; Grealish, Eze, Saka; Kane.

New Ireland manger Heimir Halgrimsson has named his first ever Ireland squad too, and it includes a call-up for Leicester winger Kasey McAteer.

Burnley’s Josh Cullen has pulled out through injury, while Gavin Bazunu also misses out with a longer-term Achilles injury.

Seamus Coleman and Evan Ferguson are both named in the squad, while Championship pair Callum Robinson and Alan Browne return after recent injuries.

In addition, Jayson Molumby has received his first call-up since November 2023 after a foot injury, and Chiedozie Ogbene and Nathan Collins, who were both ruled out of summer matches through injury, also return to the squad. New Ipswich signings Sammie Szmodics is also called up.

Ahead of the line-ups coming in at around 3.30pm, here’s a reminder of the early team news for both sides.

Lee Carsley named an England squad with a very different makeup to that which fans had become used to under Southgate, with Tino Livramento, Angel Gomes, Morgan Gibbs-White and Noni Madueke four uncapped players that he has called up.

Players including Kyle Walker and Marcus Rashford have missed out, though there is a return to the squad for Jack Grealish, and Nick Pope replaces Aaron Ramsdale.

Aside from those changes, the rest of the squad – including Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ebere Eze and others – were all present in Germany for Euro 2024.

In Lee Carsley’s first act as interim England manager, which was an introductory press conference, he said “I understand how an international window works”. He certainly does now.

Plenty has been made of this in the media in the build-up to the match.

England manager and former Ireland player Lee Carsley says he won’t sing either anthem for Saturday’s match in Dublin, because that’s always been his stance throughout his career – while stating he hasn’t spoken individually to Declan Rice or Jack Grealish about potentially getting booed.

The interim English boss says he has spoken more generally to the squad about a potentially fervent atmosphere, as England play a competitive game in Ireland for the first time since 1990. Anglo-Irish relations have weighed over the build-up to the game, especially with so many of Carsley’s squad – including the manager himself – having an Irish background.