November friendly opponents top of Vera Pauw’s World Cup priorities amid uncertain financial picture

It’s a well-worn cliche but the real work surrounding women’s football in Ireland starts now, and the FAI’s ongoing financial woes leaves them with little room to manoeuvre.

Irish manager Vera Pauw made a wise decision last summer to use up the November budget so her squad were adequately prepared for the rescheduled World Cup qualifier in Georgia.

The result?

9-0.

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The impact?

An empty pot and an association with debts of €63.5 million struggling to ensure the non-profitable women’s side of the house can compete with the game’s global leaders.

Major football nations, like World Cup Group B opponents Australia, Canada and Nigeria, have long since filled the three friendly windows between November and The Maltilas hosting Ireland in the tournament opener on July 20th in Sydney.

“We used the money to get ready for Georgia and at that moment everyone was on their summer holidays so at that moment it was more important,” Pauw explained after the World Cup draw in Auckland on Saturday morning.

“We have good hopes that we will have games in November, that we can find the money, there will be Fifa preparation money also, to be able to slot in games.

“We are trying to find opponents.”

Home or away?

“Yeah, that is the question,” said Pauw. “We don’t know yet. The good news is more countries need a game.”

When pressed on whether qualification to next summer’s tournament unlocked extra funds from the FAI or contractual bonuses from sponsors Sky and Cadburys, the former Dutch national coach endeavoured not to criticise her employers.

“It’s still fresh, everyone is looking into it and doing their utmost, it’s a bit unfortunate that we are talking about it, it feels like I am putting pressure on and I am not, I have promised not to do that,” said Pauw. “It’s the association who is trying to find it and offer it to us, that is why we are already looking into opponents.

“So we have very good hopes but I know I had asked for the money to be used in June and I am not going to put extra pressure. But on the other hand we have only three slots to prepare, it will be very welcome. They are the only slots you can use to try out new players.

“It would be fantastic if we can manage it, it would be great but we know the situation.

“It is very important, we know now who we are going to face, but most countries have set their games already. There will be a lot of lobbying tonight and tomorrow.”

England at the Aviva Stadium, where the Irish women have never played an international match, would be the ideal build-up before flying to Sydney.

“I don’t know if England is waiting for us. We need to ask who needs games at what moment and fit them in. Countries qualified months ago so they had more time to put a schedule in place.”

Group B never lets up. Six days after the Australia game, Pauw’s 23-woman squad must travel 4,000 kilometres to play Canada, ranked seventh by Fifa, at the Perth Oval. Nigeria, ranked 45th but the strongest African nation, are Ireland’s final opponents at Suncorp stadium in Brisbane on July 31st.

“We don’t fear anyone, we will be prepared,” admitted Pauw.

“The opening game, they will be nervous, we will be nervous, but I think we have shown under high pressure we can get the best out of ourselves. All I can say is we will give every team a game.”

One positive knock-on effect of Ireland reaching their first major tournament is the trickle of emails into Pauw’s inbox from players with Irish grandparents.

“It’s funny. When you qualify, suddenly there is a lot of players with Irish backgrounds. They weren’t e-mailing you before you qualified. But there are players that we’re really looking into.

“Don’t get me wrong, we see every player playing every single week because the streams these days are very good. It’s the same on camera as when you are there. You can actually see more from the streams. But I will travel of course.

“And there are players abroad that are now showing up and we really have to look into, but they must have a very tight connection with Ireland. And the players that we have now on the sheet that we are going to look at already have an Irish passport. So they are not obtaining a passport, they have a passport but are playing abroad. We are looking into that.

“Lily Agg is a really good example and other players that we can see, but they must have a good Irish connection.”