By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Manor Solomon endured a pretty horrible night as Israel captain on Sunday — and the striker West Ham spent much of the summer chasing helped make it even worse.
Troy Parrott opened the scoring for the Republic of Ireland before Adam Idah and Jack Moylan completed a 3–0 win inside the opening 25 minutes.
I’ll admit that seeing Parrott on the scoresheet caught my eye. After West Ham’s prolonged pursuit of him, it was an awkward little reminder of the striker we tried to bring to the London Stadium.
For Solomon, though, there was absolutely nothing amusing about the night.
Solomon’s miserable night started before kick-off
It had been a charged occasion before a ball was even kicked.
Ireland’s players declined the customary pre-match handshakes, while captain Dara O’Shea shook hands with the match officials but refused to shake Solomon’s hand at the coin toss.
The Irish players also wore black armbands and bowed their heads during the Israeli national anthem amid the controversy surrounding the fixture.
Then the football started and things didn’t get any better for Solomon.
Parrott scored after 14 minutes, Idah added another two minutes later and Moylan made it 3–0 after just 25 minutes.
Solomon admits Israel fell well short
Speaking to Sport5 after the match, Solomon said the players were “all heartbroken”.
He acknowledged their dreadful start and said everyone in the team needed to examine their own performance after failing to turn up in the first half.
Solomon also alleged that Irish players had made unpleasant remarks during the match and made it pretty clear that he’s already looking forward to the return fixture.
Hopefully he can put it behind him quickly. As I wrote in my piece on his international workload, Israel have packed four matches into 11 days.
I’d quite like him to get through the next one against Kosovo without incident, stay fit and come back to West Ham ready to play football.