The Republic of Ireland’s World Cup campaign is over, but the Girls in Green did the country proud, playing some good football in their first-ever World Cup final appearance. They wrapped their 3-match campaign with a 0-0 draw against Nigeria earlier today.
The African team advance to the tournament’s second round, as do co-hosts Australia, who trounced Canada 4-0, also earlier today.
After Ireland lost their first game 1-0 to the Australians in Sydney, Katie McCabe got Ireland’s first-ever goal by scoring direct from a corner kick against Canada to take the lead in Perth. But the Canadians came back to win 2-1 and the Irish team knew going into the final group game against Nigeria in Brisbane that they had no hope of qualifying for the second round.
The Irish girls, playing in an all-white strip dominated the first half, but it took a great save from goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan on 52 minutes to divert Kanu’s header onto the crossbar from point-blank range. The Irish girls also created a few chances and they eventually held on to win their first-ever World Cup point.
The next game for the Girls in Green will be a Nations League qualifier against Northern Ireland at the Aviva on Sept. 23. But by that stage it’s looking very much like Vera Pauw may not be in charge. The FAI have refused to clarify if the Dutch woman will get another contract. And media reports suggesting discord between leading player McCabe and the bench in today’s game would hardly augur well for the manager’s prospects of staying, should that be her wish.
