'Proud' Pauw plays down McCabe injury fears 

Ireland manager laments the forced substitution of her captain as classy France overrun Ireland on a record-breaking night in Tallaght

GLUM FACES: Ireland’s Katie McCabe and manager Vera Pauw after the game. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw is hopeful that captain Katie McCabe’s foot injury is not too serious as the Women’s World Cup looms.

The FAI confirmed at half time that the Arsenal player did not suffer a hamstring injury. But she rolled her ankle and was taken off as a precaution in the farewell defeat to France in Tallaght on Thursday night.

“It’s an ankle injury, she rolled over. She stepped off the foot of the opponent. We cannot say anything now. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, it will not be too bad,” explained a worried Pauw.

In front of a new Women’s National Team record attendance of 7,633 at Tallaght Stadium, the Dutch boss stressed that McCabe’s departure turned the tide of the contest against the Girls in Green who had performed well up to that point.

“It definitely changed the game," said the manager. "We were completely in control. Katie is extraordinary. She is fantastic on the pitch. Of course, we missed her immensely.” 

Pauw used 17 out of the 23 players due to travel Down Under to face Australia in two weeks time in Sydney. But she admitted there will be changes in the behind the closed door game against Columbia.

“I want to play two teams of 11 in that match. This game (against France) was the big game for us quality wise.” 

Two first-half injury-time goals by Maelle Lakrar and Eugenie Le Sommer knocked the stuffing out of the hosts who had acquitted themselves well against the fifth best ranked team in the world. With the visitors in control after the turnaround, Lakrar headed in the third goal just on the hour mark.

“I was so, so proud up to that point," added Pauw. "It’s such a shame that it all changed in two minutes. It’s individual mistakes. But that is why we play this game. France are one of the candidates to become World Champions., But we’ll see what they do."

Kyra Carusa was named the player-of-the-match. She had a good first half but was left to fend for herself and feed off scraps after the restart.

“We have to be comfortable being uncomfortable," the striker said, "That’s what it’s like playing a top five team in the world.

“This is an opportunity for us to understand that. We have to be a 90-minute team, We can’t let five minutes at the end of the first half be our demise.” 

With all eyes on the upcoming games against Australia, Nigeria and Canada, the American-born striker added “We are fine tuning. The last two camps we’ve played the formation, and we’re getting used to it. I do believe the first 45 minutes absolutely reflects on what we can do over 90 minutes. We are more than capable of it. We have to have challenging games like this in order to test ourselves.” 

Ahead of the team's departure to Australia on Friday, Pauw too was pragmatic to the end. 

“We were playing France. It’s different from playing Zambia," she said. "France is a fantastic team. We are not there level-wise yet. But it’s a great exercise to learn when we are under pressure. You learn from playing at this level. And from those little details that have to be better. We’ll see how far we are against Australia.”