Kuper aims to give mighty Dutch a test

THE Irish women’s squad face another mammoth World Cup task against powerful Netherlands in Perth today.

While Australia, winners of the last two World Cup tournaments, are rightly regarded as favourites, the Dutch are also serious candidates for the title. They hold the most number of World Cup titles (five) since the inaugural event in 1974.

Irish coach Riet Kuper, disappointed at not managing a draw against the Australians, is at last seeing her work over the past three seasons bearing fruit.

“We know now how well this Irish team can perform and they have learned fast here. They are now up to the speed of the game in this tournament. You have to play at that pace at this level.”

Kuper, who has been involved training most of the current Dutch squad, added: “They are a very good team and have came here to win the World Cu, anything less would be regarded as a failure. They are very good defensively and have a very good routine at penalty corners. But, having said that, I would dearly love to take a point from them.

Yesterday’s action in Pool ‘A’ brought the first real shock result of the tournament when Scotland beat highly-rated New Zealand 2-1, a defeat that surely weakens the Kiwis’ chance of a semi-final spot.

Korea and Ukraine drew 2-2, leaving both in the race for a semi-final spot.

The high point of yesterday’s action was the clash of one of the favourites, Argentina, and Germany. Argentina won 1-0, which took them top of Pool ‘A’ with maximum points.