Izzy Atkinson: Nothing-to-lose attitude got me into squad

The West Ham United woman grabbed the opportunity with both hands, impressing in both directions from a berth at wing-back against Zambia in Tallaght

Tue, 04 Jul, 2023 - 06:30

Brendan O'Brien

If the focus last week was on the players who fell the wrong side of the cut for Vera Pauw’s World Cup squad then the camera is, inevitably, shifting back to those who will take the Republic of Ireland forward to Australia.

Nobody covered more ground in the race for a place in the 23 than Izzy Atkinson, the 21-year old from Rush in north county Dublin who hadn’t even been named in the enlarged panel that got tournament preparations underway.

Atkinson got a belated call when it became apparent that Megan Campbell wasn’t going to make it because of injury and the unlucky Liverpool defender even went so far as to vacate her hotel room for her younger colleague ahead of the friendly against Zambia.

The West Ham United woman grabbed the opportunity with both hands, impressing in both directions from a berth at wing-back against the African side in Tallaght. It was a performance that obviously fed into similarly encouraging efforts in training.

“I knew it was massive. I was very gutted not to be in the initial squad. And, luckily, Vera rang me and said we need you down as a training player. For any person or any player who has that opportunity, I went into it with no fear. I had nothing to lose.

“And it must have really suited me, because I performed really well in training, thought I done as much as I could, and when I got the opportunity in the game, I thought I did really well. Maybe it suits me having that no fear, nothing to lose attitude.”

She was proud of how she handled herself across those few weeks and it goes without saying that others felt the same. Her mum burst out the front door screaming when news of her selection came through and her dad had been a bag of nerves all morning.

“He had to go down in the car, he couldn’t settle. And I rang him and told him. He was in the car and on the way to collect me and he had to pull over and said, ‘I feel like I am going to have a heart attack’. He said it was the best day of his life.”

Atkinson made the move from Shelbourne to Celtic this time two years ago. A switch to West Ham United followed in the summer of 2022 and life in the WSL has accelerated her progress.

“After just a month there, I already felt like a new player.”

Pauw has noticed the improvement. The Ireland manager spoke last week of how the penny needed to drop, tactically, for the Dubliner and singled out the moment in the game against Zambia when it became apparent that this was finally the case.

It wasn’t anything dramatic, just a decision not to bomb forward for an attack having done so for a handful in the previous minutes. The choice to stay put and gather herself before going again was a nothing in itself but it seems to have tipped the balance in a seismic way.

“I’ve been in and around the squad since I was 16 and since Vera came in there has been a lot of things that she has said that I am beginning to grasp and listen to her. And when I got the opportunity then, I was aware of everything she said over the past few years.

“I listened and I think that is what she meant. There are so many times in training when she would tell me something when I was a lot younger and I wouldn’t listen maybe, or it would look like I was not listening. Maybe that’s what it was.”

It’s taken time to come to this. Her Ireland debut came in January of 2018 as a 90th-minute sub against Slovakia in a World Cup qualifier and she still needs just the one hand to cap her number of senior appearances.

That might not change all that dramatically at a World Cup where she will likely be competing for game time with a certain Katie McCabe given how Pauw likes to utilise the captain despite the latter's attacking abilities.

Atkinson speaks in the admiring tones you would expect when it comes to McCabe who has long been the face of this Ireland team but there is no part of her that will travel Down Under next week just to be there.

“Knowing how small this squad is and how many girls sadly didn’t make it, you feel more of a purpose to be here. And everyone in this 23 is here for a reason, so of course, I am going to do my best and hopefully make an impact, and get some game-time.”