Young Irish get a taste of the big time

When we had last seen Brandi Chastain 56 days earlier, she was taking off her shirt in the Rose Bowl to celebrate her game-winning penalty kick in the United States' World Cup final win over China.

On Saturday, Chastain took off her hat in acknowledgment of the gritty performance turned in by a vastly inexperienced and outgunned Irish team. The world champions might have won the friendly by a 5-0 score, but in Chastain's mind there was no doubt who the real winners were.

"Today was the first step toward the Irish girls eventually playing in a World Cup," predicted Chastain. "They got a taste of what it was like to play in front of 30,000 people. They didn't win, but they were successful. They got a chance to get on the field with the best players in the world, and they did all right."

The match, played as part of a doubleheader along with the New England Revolution-Tampa Bay Mutiny game, marked the first step of what seems destined to be a coast-to-coast victory lap for the American team. It was the first meeting between the countries, and Irish coach Mick Cooke admitted that when the invitation to play the Americans arrived at the LFAI offices several weeks ago it was perceived as a hoax.

"They wanted us to come to America and play the US women's team?" Cooke recalled the reaction. "We thought it must be somebody's idea of a practical joke."

The LFAI were sceptical enough that they asked the folks from US Soccer to supply official documentation before accepting. Then they started wondering: "Just what did we just get ourselves into?"

The US are the reigning world champions, while the Irish were winless in their three international outings this year. Ten of the 18 players they brought to Foxboro were younger than Cindy Parlow, the youngest American. Eight of the US women had more international caps than the whole Irish team put together. Ten American players in uniform yesterday have scored more international goals than the entire Irish team. As of yesterday, Tiffeny Milbrett has scored twice as many goals this year as have the 18 Irish players combined.

Although the game remained scoreless for the first 25 minutes, the Americans eventually put Irish goalkeeper Emma Byrne, of Fortuna Hjorring, under siege, levelling 15 shots on goal. The closest to a threat the Irish got going came with 20 minutes remaining, when a free kick from Margaret Saurin, of Shamrock Rovers, sailed over the bar.

"We just lack a lot of the resources necessary to put together a programme like the one the US has," said Cooke. "It isn't for lack of effort or hard work, but we just don't have the resources."

"Considering who we played, I don't consider this a shameful performance," said Ireland forward Claire Scanlon, of Shelbourne. "It wasn't so much what we expected from them, but what we expected from ourselves. I think we did pretty well."