Pauw ponders a playoff puzzle with precious few easy answers  

Girls in Green will travel to Austria or Scotland next month with a World Cup place on the line. The manager knows either will be a challenge

Thinking time: Ireland manager Vera Pauw and her support team will watch the meeting of Austria and Scotland closely. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Vera Pauw wasn’t about to become a hostage to fortune when asked if she had a preference between Scotland and Austria come next month’s World Cup playoffs, but the Celtic cousins hold an obvious emotional appeal.

It wasn’t long after she had won the last of her 89 caps with the Netherlands when Pauw took on the role of manager with the Scottish national side and she spoke wistfully, if briefly, about that spell in her Hampden ‘office’ after yesterday’s draw.