Thirty-three years after our men’s soccer team made their debut in the World Cup finals in Sardinia our women’s team will make their own bit of history when they play co-hosts Australia in Sydney tomorrow. Irish manager Vera Pauw says she is happy with the Irish team’s training base in Brisbane and judging by the number of Irish people who attended an open day in Meakin Park, Brisbane last week there is going to be plenty of support for the Girls in Green against the Matildas in the 82,500 capacity Stadium Australia tomorrow. Kick off is at 11 a.m. Irish time. When the teams last met at Tallaght Stadium in September 2021 Ireland won 3-2. But this will be a much stronger Australia. They beat England, one of the top teams in the world, 2-0 in April and they have one of the real stars of women’s football in Sam Kerr, who has scored 62 international goals. The Republic’s other group games are against Canada in Perth on July 26 and Nigeria in Brisbane on July 31.
Pauw says she is hopeful that Denise O’Sullivan can play in tomorrow’s opener but admits the Irish camp feared the Cork woman’s tournament might have been over before it had begun.
O’Sullivan was injured by a heavy tackle in Friday’s behind-closed-doors friendly with Colombia, causing the game to be abandoned after 20 minutes. There were initial fears the midfielder had suffered an injury that would keep her out of the World Cup. She attended St Andrew’s Hospital in Brisbane to have the injury assessed, but following an X-ray and CT Scan, no fracture was revealed. Instead, Pauw confirmed that O’Sullivan had suffered a soft tissue injury.
Manager Vera Pauw speaking at a Republic of Ireland Women's National Team press conference at the Emporium Hotel, Brisbane, last Saturday.
Pauw said it was her first time in 47 years of coaching to see a friendly called off in those circumstances. She said: “Over physical is not a problem once staying within the laws of games. We know how to handle that. There were moments from the opposition where Ruesha Littlejohn got a huge tackle and could have been injured. It took a few minutes to restart and two minutes later a huge challenge on Denise that was not within the laws of the game. She was in awful pain.’’ Pauw was at pains to reiterate that the issue stemmed more from player recklessness on the Colombians’ behalf, rather than any sideline promptings, and the taunts from Colombian defender Daniela Caracas, who labelled the Irish as “little girls”, adding “Let them eat s***’’ would tend to support that view.
