Friendly: United States v Republic of Ireland
Sunday, TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, 8pm Irish time (Live on RTÉ 2)
Much as she might like to freshen up her team for the second of their friendlies against the United States, following their 4-0 defeat in the first, Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward has limited enough options ahead of Sunday evening’s meeting in Cincinnati.
Both Denise O’Sullivan and Megan Campbell have been ruled out of the game having missed the Denver defeat with injuries, and there are doubts too over a number of other players.
Ruesha Littlejohn’s long-standing Achilles problem saw her limited to one half on Friday, while Ward revealed that Ellen Molloy, Izzy Atkinson and debutante Erin Healy were able for no more than 15 minutes in the game.
Erin McLaughlin, who was recently released by Portsmouth, has been called up, the 22-year-old having been capped three times before. And Philadelphia-born Dee Bradley, who plays her football with Durham in the English Championship, has been invited to train with the squad, the midfielder qualifying to play for Ireland through her Donegal-born father and Cork-born mother.
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The quick turnaround after an energy-sapping contest for the Irish side – the heat, high altitude and quality of the opposition leaving them drained at the end – simply adds to Ward’s woes.
“Sunday is going to be difficult,” she said to RTÉ, “but we have to dig deep into that performance to see what we can change and tweak, and, being honest, see who we have fit and available.”
She was insistent, though, that despite being outclassed by the Americans, her players will benefit from the experience. “I said to the girls that we’re going to learn more out of tonight than we will have in all our Nations League games. And that’s what this is about.
“We’ve faced the best team in the world. They have unbelievable quality, they really have. They’re all in season, fit. We know where we’re at, we’re out of season. We’ve done what we could have done with what we had available. I take my hat off to the group.”
“We asked them to leave everything out there and they did,” she said, referring to the conditions. “There has to be some optimism given who we’re playing against and all the contributing factors. They’ve done pretty well considering.”
With Sunday’s game kicking off at 3pm local time, it could be hotter still in Cincinnati, the temperatures forecast to surpass 30 degrees.
Asked by ESPN if she would “take it easy” on Sunday against her old friend Ward, US head coach Emma Hayes replied with an emphatic “no”.
“I won’t change who I am, definitely not, not for anyone – even if I like you. The US women’s team has such a high bar that it’s up to me to keep pace with that and deliver teams that pursue excellence every time. So, we will absolutely be looking to do that again. There will be changes, though, I want to see the whole squad.”
The Irish defence would, no doubt, like to see left-winger Alyssa Thompson rested after she gave them a torrid time on Friday, while Rose Lavelle was outstanding in midfield on her first appearance in six months after ankle surgery. Seeing as Cincinnati is her hometown, it’s likely that Lavelle will appear again. It could be a long 90 minutes.
