Chicago’s Soldier Field was, you might recall, scene of one of Ireland’s more famed sporting achievements back in 2016, the All Blacks downed by Joe Schmidt’s crew for the first time in their history.
The Irish women’s football team, as it happens, made some history at the same venue too – in 2004, New York-born Michele O’Brien scored against the United States. But? It’s the only time in 15 meetings with the States that Ireland managed a goal against them. Played 15, lost 15, conceded 51, scored one. Carnage.
Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward grimaced when she rattled off those stats on her Zoom call from Colorado, where she and her squad are preparing for the first of two friendlies against the States, ranked number one in the world, this week. That game kicks off in the early hours of Friday morning (2am Irish time), and then there’s the trip to Cincinnati for Sunday’s meeting (8pm Irish time).
“We’d be foolish to sit here and say the aim is to go and win, we have to look bigger than that, we have to look at where we’re at, what we’ve been building and continue that,” she said.
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Modest ambitions, then, the one – possible – piece of encouragement that Ward’s old pal Emma Hayes has named a largely experimental US squad for the games.
With the exception of Chelsea’s world-record signing Naomi Girma, she has rested all her foreign-based players, the rest of her 25-strong group picked from the NWSL. Four have received their first senior call-ups, but World Cup winner Rose Lavelle brings a mountain of experience to the squad, returning for the first time in six months following ankle surgery.
It is, though, an understrength Irish squad too, captain Katie McCabe absent after a gruelling season, as is Aoife Mannion and a string of players recovering from injury, including Heather Payne, Leanne Kiernan, Jamie Finn, Lily Agg, Jess Ziu and Tara O’Hanlon.
Mannion and Payne are now among five of Ward’s players who have “unattached” by their names after they were released by Manchester United and Everton, respectively, in the last week. Megan Campbell, Izzy Atkinson and Grace Moloney were already without clubs, and it’s likely that Tyler Toland will be looking for pastures new after Blackburn Rovers’ decision to drop down to the third tier of English football.
Worried? “No,” said Ward, “it doesn’t concern me at all, this is normal this time of year, unless you’re on a two or three-year deal. Most of them are talking to other clubs and getting things sorted.”
Ward’s main worry at the moment, she said, is about the conditions in Colorado. “It’s difficult any time to play the beast that is the USA, but add in the heat and the altitude and, yeah, it’s going to be difficult. I went to the gym at five this morning and I struggled – and that was inside.”
As if the challenge wasn’t already big enough.
