Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward has batted away suggestions that she was outfoxed by Slovenia manager Saša Kolman when the two nations faced off earlier this year.
Kolman trumpeted his “tactical win” after beating the Girls in Green 4-0 in February. He claimed he didn’t bother with a Plan B as he knew what Ireland would do, stating that they “played into our hands”. The teams are prepared to meet again in a Nations League promotion decider at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork (Tuesday, 6pm).
Ward hit back on Monday, saying: “I’m going to concentrate on us and what we do. He can talk as much as he wants. It’s not hard to look at a Carla Ward team over the last eight years and work out how I like to play the game.
“He can comment all he likes. It just shows that he’s probably had a look at my career, which I can take a little bit of confidence from. My focus is on my team and how we set up.”
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As a consequence of that heavy loss in Ward’s second game at the helm, Ireland require a four-goal victory over Slovenia tonight to achieve automatic promotion to League A. Along with that, they would secure a guaranteed play-off spot for the 2027 World Cup.
Should Ireland fall short, they will face a third-placed team from League A in a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off in October. Italy, Portugal, Iceland and Austria are currently positioned as the likely opponents.
Ireland enter with doubts surrounding the participation of Lucy Quinn and Aoife Mannion, who have both started all five games under Ward.
Quinn has been struck down by an illness and looks less likely to feature. Mannion is suffering from a quad issue after a long season, but could play a part.
But if we want to top this group, we have to be miles better than we were on Friday night
— Katie McCabe
Ireland have switched to a possession-based style under Ward. Despite that, both of their late goals in last Friday’s victory against Turkey came from balls launched into the box.
Ward wouldn’t be drawn on whether she plans to mix things up for the visit of the group leaders. She said: “I can’t say, can I? I’m not going to tell you that. What I will say is we are preparing ourselves in the best possible way to go and get the job done.
“There’s so many different permutations, but we’ve whittled it down. We need to win by four clear goals, which sets it up for an exciting evening.”
Responding to news that 10,000 tickets had been sold for the game at the home of Cork GAA, she said: “I’ve heard an awful lot about the crowd here. I’ve heard an awful lot about the good times here. We’ll be ready.
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“We know what we have to do. We’re going to have to be aggressive but also secure at the same time.”
Ireland’s latest recruit, Erin Healy, could be in line for a debut if the team is left chasing goals. Amid a confusing contract situation, Adelaide United had confirmed that the California native will remain with the club for the coming season. However, Ward believes she may yet relocate to Europe, as previously indicated.
Hometown hero Saoirse Noonan previously played at Páirc Uí Chaoimh for Cork’s Gaelic footballers, so she is in line for a unique achievement if called upon.
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Katie McCabe recovered from the celebrations of Arsenal’s Champions League triumph to collect the player-of-the-match award in last Friday’s 2-1 victory in Turkey.
Opposition midfielder Kaja Korošec described McCabe as an “icon of women’s football in the whole world” during her pre-match media duties.
McCabe, who captains Ireland, said a big improvement is needed from the performance last Friday.
“If we don’t score the first one, you can forget about the fourth,” she said. “We just have to be fully concentrated on how we’re setting up the game plan and executing it as best as possible.
“For us, we know we can score goals in a lot of different ways. But if we want to top this group, we have to be miles better than we were on Friday night, all over the pitch.”
We know Ireland are still the favourites, the best team in the group
— Saša Kolman
In the opposition dugout, Kolman is targeting another statement win. After their last victory, he received a message of congratulations from Donegal manager McGuinness. The pair struck up a friendship when McGuinness worked at Celtic as a youth coach.
“We were talking after the game on WhatsApp,” Kolman revealed. “He saw a headline from when I spoke to him at Celtic in 2013, that I thought I was going to ‘conquer the world’.
“He said, ‘Saša, you took it literally’. And I said, ‘Well, you told me so!’”
Kolman knows Ireland will provide a different challenge this time around.
“That game in Koper changed Ireland more than it changed us. For sure, they took something out of it. They look very good, very compact.
“We will play to win, but we know who we are playing against. The first game doesn’t mean anything. We know Ireland are still the favourites, the best team in the group, so we need to show character again.
“To finish six from six, that would make a huge statement in Slovenia.”
