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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

Republic of Ireland v Belgium kick-off time, TV channel information, team news and more

The Republic of Ireland face Belgium in a glamour friendly this weekend in what will be their first game of 2022.

Stephen Kenny named a 25-man squad for this game and next week's friendly with Lithuania, but Darragh Lenihan has since withdrawn through injury.

Oxford United midfielder Mark Sykes has received his first call-up to the Ireland squad as well as Connor Ronan, who is currently on loan with St Mirren from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

But Ireland are without a number of players, such as Adam Idah, Andrew Omobamidele, Enda Stevens and Callum O'Dowda.

Meanwhile, Roberto Martinez has only named players with less than 50 caps in his squad as he aims to give others a chance, but it is still a high quality group for the world's number one ranked side.

Here's what you need to know:

Venue

Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

A general view of The Aviva Stadium (©INPHO/Tommy Dickson)

Date and start time

5pm on Saturday, March 26.

TV channel information

Sky Sports Premier League will show the game live, with their coverage starting at 4.30pm.

You can also follow updates with our live blog.

Quotes corner

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny: "I think that the players we're missing probably have a greater effect than the players they're missing.

"We're missing Adam Idah, Andrew Omobamidele, Enda Stevens who are frontline players for us. Callum O'Dowda is obviously missing.

"All of their players are from top teams in the European leagues. Like, (Romelu) Lukaku isn't fit, so they have a choice (Michy) Batshuayi, (Divlock) Origi or (Christian) Benteke as their first number 9, and only one of them will play.

"So they've got that right throughout the team. (Dedryck) Boyata would come in at the back, but he's not a young player, he's 31 and Jason Denayer.

"So those players will come in and they've already played in major tournaments.y

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny (©INPHO/Evan Treacy)

"OK, Kevin de Bruyne is a world-class player and is great to watch, it would be great for the Irish public to see him because he is a real special talent.

"But certainly, they have a formidable team, a world number one team, and a formidable strength in depth and we're aware of that, and we don't, we have emerging players.

"So the players that we're missing have an equal effect of the players they're missing from their team.

"They're missing who they're missing, but they have a formidable team, Belgium, and they're world number one because they've been so consistent in winning matches, relentlessly."

Betting odds

Ireland win: 6/1

Belgium win: 8/15

Draw: 11/4

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