Vera Pauw: 'We have fantastic defenders but they are not the quickest'

PLAYING TO OUR STRENGTHS: Ireland manager Vera Pauw won't be changing from her back five unit as her side prepare for Canada. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Vera Pauw insists Ireland won’t deviate from her preferred back-five unit as she feels her backline are too slow.

Thursday’s 1-0 defeat to co-hosts Australia in their World Cup opener accumulated Ireland’s blanks to five in six games this year.

Justifiable questions about the lack of creativity and firepower have arisen as the Girls in Green seek a route back into knockout contention when they face Olympic champions Canada in Perth on Wednesday (1pm, Irish time). The possibility of one of three centrebacks being sacrificed to provide a third midfielder to support Denise O’Sullivan and Ruesha Littlejohn has been floated but Pauw is not for moving.

The Dutch native is renowned for her resoluteness when it comes to personnel and tactics.

Louise Quinn only took a limited part in training on Monday but is expected to overcome a foot injury to partner Niamh Fahey in defence but the other element of the triumvirate, Megan Connolly, doesn’t look like being restored to her usual midfield berth.

Quinn is 33 with 106 caps, Fahey turns 36 in October, and the back-up option, Diane Caldwell, is 34 and four caps away from joining her fellow defensive stalwarts in the centurion club. They've reached the stage where reading the game trumps turn of pace.

“You do realise that we have to play five at the back, eh,” Pauw said during an exchange with reporters.

“We have fantastic defenders but they are not the quickest. That is our biggest problem.

“If you don't have cover, then you will get five or six one-v-ones to the goalkeeper every half.

“And that is what we're dealing with. We're getting there. We're getting better and better, closer and closer, but you need to play to your strengths and not to your weaknesses. We eliminate our weaknesses this way.

“I agree that we need to create chances. We need to get forward into the opposition’s half, to get Katie McCabe further up to the pitch.” 

It seems inevitable that Abbie Larkin’s enterprise off the bench against the Matildas in Ireland’s pursuit of an equaliser will earn a start. She and Lucy Quinn were introduced for the last half hour, with Larkin squaring for Katie McCabe to strike a scuffed shot that was saved by Makenzie Arnold.

The 18-year-old’s zest and vitality will be relied upon to eke out a result that takes Ireland’s destiny to the final game against Nigeria next Monday in Brisbane. A runners-up finish will likely set up a last-16 clash against England.

Pauw was non-committal on that prospect, smiling while pointing out the Canadians monitoring her every word, but the indicators are strong for the attacker currently celebrated with bundles of bunting back home in Ringsend. Marissa Sheva, not due to conceding the penalty that settled the game, is most vulnerable to making way.

“We need to see how Abbie develops - the key thing is that she stays healthy,” she said.

“From playing at national league level to home-based sessions to international level, we have built it up very, very carefully as you have seen.

“The home-based project has made her strong. That is the key outcome of it, apart from Áine O’Gorman being fully fit. But especially Abbie.

“Because of that programme, she has been ready to step in at a level that was for her actually further on than some others.

“And that gave her the space to build and develop from when we assembled on June 12 to now. Every time she jumps up.” 

The Canadians should carry more firepower than Friday’s stalemate against Nigeria. Legend Christine Sinclair saw her penalty saved while Chelsea midfielder Jessie Fleming is in line to return from injury for the clash with Ireland.