Vera Pauw determined to park Houston Dash controversy until after World Cup

WORLD CUP FOCUS: Vera Pauw has declared that she will not discuss the ongoing controversy relating to her season in charge of Houston Dash until the Republic of Ireland’s upcoming World Cup campaign is over. Pic:©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Vera Pauw has declared that she will not discuss the ongoing controversy relating to her season in charge of Houston Dash until the Republic of Ireland’s upcoming World Cup campaign is over.

The Irish boss has faced accusations relating to alleged abusive behaviour and weight-shaming during her time with the American club and has responded with denials and with her own claims of double standards against female coaches.

The issue was revived only this week on the back of fresh allegations in The Athletic by anonymous Dash players and staff and it all, predictably, overshadowed the Irish team’s last warm-up game, against France, on Thursday.

Pauw faced numerous questions about the matter during the pre-match press conference on Wednesday after an opening answer and statement and a declaration that she would not speak any more about it.

It will be difficult for her to stick to that again going forward. Prodigious amounts of media await her and her squad when they arrive in Australia for the tournament but for now at least she is committed to her approach.

“I said to myself there is two things that you can do, either you switch over from’ ‘I to ‘we’,” she explained after her team’s 3-0 loss to the French at Tallaght Stadium.

“Whatever happened, the shock, I need to switch to ‘we’ because I need to be there for the players, the players are not there for me and that has never been. That for me is the most important thing.” 

That determination to get on with the job manifested itself after the tense and tough press conference the day before the France game when she sought refuge in the little details that tend to occupy coaches after a day on the training ground.

Pauw rang her video analyst Andy Holt late that night in an attempt to get to the bottom of a tactical matter that had arisen at training and that tunnel vision will be useful Down Under where the strongest of spotlights awaits.

“I think I have had my bit this year and so far I have been able to stand my ground. (Wednesday) was really tough but I said to myself that I need to go from ‘I’ to ‘we’. If I am not capable, if I can not be there for the players, then I should take my consequences.

“But I have been there for the players. The players told me, ‘we need you, we want you’. The leaders came to me and we put the switch and I am here for them and, because of that, any other personal matter does not have a place.

“There is just no place for it. So I have made the switch and I promise you I will not talk about it anymore because I can’t. I promise you somewhere after the World Cup then you can ask me all the questions you want.” 

Ireland started positively against the French, and could have been 1-0 up had Kyra Carusa not been called back incorrectly for offside when one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but they faded away against a strong opponent as the night went on.

Pauw had picked her strongest possible XI, one likely to start their Group B opener against Australia, but they offered precious little in attack as the game went on while giving away three bad goals at the far end.

“I’m very proud,” said the manager. We played one of the top, top nations. We lost 3-0, yes, but we lost through individual mistakes, but that is why we want to play this game. And why we started and wanted this game first on this date.

“If you see how we started the game, it was so good, France didn’t know how to do with us. That is a level of play we haven’t seen before.”