There was tension in the air following the Republic of Ireland’s 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands in Utrecht on Saturday night.
The good news is that Denise O’Sullivan should recover from a knee issue before the crucial World Cup qualifiers against Poland next month.
Having returned to Liverpool for treatment after exacerbating an issue with her medial collateral ligament during the 2-1 loss to France last Tuesday in Tallaght, O’Sullivan rejoined her Ireland teammates at the Galgenwaard Stadium. It wasn’t a happy viewing experience for the 32-year-old, as Lineth Beerensteyn’s two goals secured the points for the Dutch.
Ireland manager Carla Ward revealed the midfielder should make the trip to Gdansk on April 14th, with Poland coming to the Aviva Stadium four days later.
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“Denise will be back for Poland,” said Ward. “It is positive news. Now we need to pick up some points.”
Ireland are guaranteed a World Cup playoff in October, although their current standing in Nations League Group A2 will pit them against in-form opposition from Group B. Elsewhere in the group, France beat Poland 4-1 in Dijon to go top on six points, while the Dutch have four points and Poland’s 2-2 draw with Netherlands leaves Ireland propping up the table.
The challenge next month is to contain Poland’s star striker Ewa Pajor.
“She is world class and she does it week-in, week-out for Barcelona,” said Ward. “Just a tremendous talent.”
The Irish squad and management left the Galgenwaard stadium late on Saturday feeling disrespected by a number of incidents.
The FAI and Dutch football’s equivalent, the KNVB, agreed not to water the pitch before kick-off. However, the Dutch watered the pitch anyway, according to the Ireland camp, while some of their players were seen chatting among themselves during Amhrán na bhFiann.
Ireland also felt reduced to a warm-up act immediately after the full-time whistle as the KNVB rolled out ex-players for a ceremony that prompted Netherlands manager Arjan Veurink to avoid the standard handshake with Ward.
“No, absolutely not,” responded Veurink to the suggestion that he had an issue with his Irish counterpart. “As you’ve seen, there were a lot of former international players on the pitch. I spoke with Carla for 20 minutes before the game. I shook her hand before the game so absolutely nothing happened.”
Pre-match, however, Veurink was unable to explain to Ward why the grass was being watered. Afterwards, it was clear what he thought about Ireland’s defensive approach when asked to compare them to Poland.
“Both have a similar style of play,” he said. “I think the next games will be really interesting, with making them play, because both of them are dropping into a low block and playing on the counterattack.
“I thought the Polish team was a little more aggressive in their duels. And, of course, in Ewa Pajor they have a really good striker.”
Ward preferred not to comment on ‘watergate’ but she did state: “I thought a few things were disrespectful in the last couple of days, but we’ll go about our business.”
The Netherlands face Ireland in Tallaght on June 5th.
“Look at the last 15 minutes,” Ward continued. “You’ve a top 10 team in the world trying to slow the game with the dark arts. You would argue that might have been us. That tells you an awful lot. I actually thought we were the better team in the second half.”
Over the 180 minutes against France and the Netherlands, Ireland offered a threat on the counterattack, with Emily Murphy bringing a renewed energy to the team. Katie McCabe was superb across the week, scoring twice, including a penalty after Dutch goalkeeper Lize Kop was yellow-carded for a foul on Anna Patten.
“Interesting moment, wasn’t it?” said Veurink. “I don’t think it was a penalty. It was too easy. I thought Lize Kop actually did her job really well. So there are just moments in the game which could have done with VAR technology. And it’s almost like a confirmation that you need the technology in the women’s game.”
Patten provided a contrasting view: “I did get clattered. Some of the Dutch girls don’t think I did but I won the ball and then she came through me, so I think the ref made the right decision.”
Disagreements aside, Ward was keen to emphasise the tactical progress of her players since she was appointed last year.
“On paper, [competing with the Netherlands] shouldn’t be a conversation. They’ve got one of the best squads in world football. Did anyone think that we should be able to compete with them for 90 minutes? Probably not, but we’ve shown that.
“No one would have given us a chance except ourselves. And I said that against France, but the fact that we’ve run both nations so close, I think [it] shows an awful lot about the evolution of this team in the last year or so. This one hurts more than France because I think we definitely deserved a point, if not three.”
McCabe went into Saturday’s game knowing a yellow card would see her suspended for the trip to Gdansk, but she got through the match without a booking.
“I don’t need to worry about Katie,” said Ward. “She is smarter than people realise.”
