Soccer:The Republic of Ireland's friendly against Italy on June 7th will be played in Belgium. A meeting between Giovanni Trapattoni's side and Cesare Prandelli's Azzurri has been pencilled in since February, but the venue was only confirmed by the FAI this afternoon.
Other possible venues included Philadelphia, Boston and New York but the associations have since settled on Standard Liege’s home ground, Stade Maurice Dufrasne, which has a capacity of just over 30,000. Kick-off will be 7.45pm Irish time.
The game will come three days after the Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia. Ireland face Northern Ireland and Scotland in the Carling Nations Cup later this month to prepare for the trip to Skopje.
Ireland last met Italy in World Cup 2010 qualifiers in October 2009. A late Alberto Gilardino goal rescued a point for Italy in a 2-2 draw on that occasion, while Ireland captain Robbie Keane ensured a 1-1 draw in Bari in April that year.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)