Soccer

Vera Pauw and Ireland braced for difficult assignment against USA

Manager takes the opportunity to once again strongly refute allegations of body shaming made in American report

Vera Pauw: 'These allegations are absolutely ridiculous. I know I find a lot of safety in the truth.' Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Vera Pauw: 'These allegations are absolutely ridiculous. I know I find a lot of safety in the truth.' Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Joe Callaghan
Sat Apr 08 2023 - 05:00

Women’s international friendly: USA v Republic of Ireland, Q2 Stadium, Austin, Texas, Saturday, 7.30pm Irish time – Live on RTÉ 2

Vera Pauw had insisted she was more than ready for the storm when she’d face the US media for the first time since being included in a report into systematic abuse in American women’s soccer. She had promised to be the storm.

In the end, there wasn’t much of a tempest in Texas on Friday afternoon. But that didn’t stop the Ireland manager from launching another fiercely passionate defence of her methods as she refuted allegations of body shaming players during her spell in charge of Houston Dash.

Much like she has done on one side of the Atlantic, Pauw was unwavering on this side as she answered the two or three questions on the issue that came her way from the host country’s media ahead of Saturday’s friendly in Austin.

With her US-based legal counsel present, she again said she would be happy to sit down with the NWSL, pointed to former players who have leapt to her defence and railed at the double standards in how female coaches are criticised compared to male counterparts.

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In one striking answer she pointed to alleged abuse she endured herself as a player as she spoke of how the report’s findings hurt.

“Can you imagine, with my background? Can you feel what it does to a person?” said Pauw. “I have been raped, I have been sexually assaulted. I was the victim of power abuse. I know that I have the power in my hands.

“These allegations are absolutely ridiculous. I know I find a lot of safety in the truth.”

Pauw was keen to move on to on-field matters with her Ireland side staring down a whole other storm in Central Texas, lashed with rains and thunder and lighting in recent days.

Facing the undisputed best team in the world twice in four days will provide the ultimate test of her side’s credentials with the World Cup looming.

The presence of Sinead Farrelly training with the squad added yet another layer to the build-up. The American-born midfielder was one of the original whistle-blowers into NWSL abuse which sparked the league-wide investigation that eventually implicated Pauw.

Farrelly had been out of the game for eight years but recently joined Gotham FC and was registered in time to feature. Farrelly has reportedly looked sharp in training. A World Cup berth, as unlikely as it might have been, now looks on the cards.

“The only thing I’ve learned on this journey back is one game at a time, one day at a time,” Farrelly said Friday.

“I’m freaking out a little bit about it. What an opportunity. I’m really trying to keep that lens of . . .it’s an honour to do this and I don’t want to take it for granted.”

For her part, Pauw sees Farrelly as a controlling presence that has been lacking.

“Sinead is a player that, like no other in our squad, can make the ball free,” said Pauw as she confirmed Farrelly would start in Texas.

“Under pressure she makes the ball free and that gives us a calmness in our play that we needed. Hopefully she brings what we’re looking for to be able to bring more control in our attacking play.”

Farrelly’s addition means there are four uncapped players in the panel with tough decisions mere months away.

The sense is that Pauw will go with her strongest possible line-up on Saturday as Ireland look to add some semblance of balance to an ugly ledger. The sides have met 13 times with the US winning all of them, scoring 48 times and conceding just once.

The hosts have plenty of selection dilemmas of their own. Vlatko Andonovski’s outfit bounced back from an almighty wobble last year when they lost three straight games.

They are leaving little to chance in their quest for a third-straight World Cup. As the rain pelted down at the end of their Friday tune-up at Q2 stadium, US Soccer had arena staff pipe in deafening crowd noise as they ran through a penalty shoot-out routine.

Both here and in St Louis on Tuesday night Andonovski is expecting Ireland to provide a much sterner test than history would suggest.

“Obviously, this is a different Ireland team,” he said of Ireland’s wretched record against the hosts.

“They are very organised, very disciplined. They’re hard to score against, only one goal in nine games, which speaks to the difficulties we will have. There’s a reason we picked a game like this.”