Friendly: United States v Republic of Ireland, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Denver, Friday, 2am Irish time – Live on the RTÉ Player
With the first six games in her reign as Republic of Ireland manager all being competitive fixtures, Carla Ward hadn’t much chance to ease herself into the job. Now, she has a pair of friendlies against the United States to look forward to, but they’ll hardly be gentle strolls in the park. The opponents are, after all the world’s top-ranked national team.
It’ll be a case of friends reunited when Ward and US head coach Emma Hayes meet up in Denver for the first of those games at the home of MLS side Colorado Rapids on Friday morning (2am Irish time).
Close pals for years, the pair worked together when Hayes, the former Chelsea manager, added Ward to her staff for USA’s gold-winning Olympic Games campaign last year.
And with 12 of the Irish squad having played college or club football in the States, there’ll be no shortage of player reunions either. Denise O’Sullivan will meet up again with her former North Carolina Courage team-mate Lynn Biyendolo, now with Seattle Reign.
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Kyra Carusa played with Naomi Girma at San Diego Wave, before the defender set sail for Chelsea in January, becoming the first female player to be sold for over $1 million. Megan Campbell was at Manchester City when World Cup winner Rose Lavelle spent a season there, and Megan Connolly and Anna Patten were in the same Florida State University football programme as Orlando Pride defender Emily Sams.
Ward is without captain Katie McCabe and defender Aoife Mannion, both excused from the trip, as well as the injured Heather Payne and Leanne Kiernan. Ireland continue to make do without longer-term absentees Jamie Finn, Lily Agg, Jess Ziu and Tara O’Hanlon.
The Ireland manager has brought in Crystal Palace defender Hayley Nolan and Wexford forward Ellen Molloy for the first time in her tenure, but it’s still an experienced squad with an average age of 27, with 10 of the players featuring in the last double-header against the US in 2023.
In contrast, Hayes has chosen an experimental squad that, with the exception of Girma, is made up entirely of home-based players. Six of them are uncapped, 13 have played fewer than 10 times for their country, as Hayes continues to scout for talent before finalising her squad for next year’s World Cup qualifying campaign. In all, she has given debuts to 19 players since she took charge of the side in May of last year.
When Ward worked for Hayes, her chief role was to analyse opponents. However, she will have struggled to analyse the US as it will, most probably, be a side that has never played together before.
Still, whatever shape it takes, it should be formidable, not least because it could include Lavelle, returning for the first time in six months following ankle surgery, and up to five Olympic gold medallists. Not to mention a bunch of newcomers hell-bent on holding on to their places in Hayes’s squad.
Ward, with one eye on October’s Nations League playoff against Belgium, is likely to go with her tried and tested, with San Diego native Courtney Brosnan in line to win her 50th cap.
Charlotte Healy, who has just been appointed manager of Championship side Bristol City, leaving her role as assistant manager at Manchester United, has temporarily joined Ward’s backroom team for the two games.
Another of Ward’s staff, Amber Whiteley, is still waiting for white smoke from Liverpool after she applied for the manager’s job at the WSL side, having filled in on an interim basis following the sacking of Matt Beard in February. Liverpool allowed Whiteley double job with Ireland when she was the club’s assistant, but that’s unlikely to happen should she be their choice as Beard’s permanent successor.
This will be the 16th meeting between the nations, all friendlies and all played on American soil. The States, four-time World Cup winners, have won all 15, scored 51 and conceded just the one. That’s the measure of the task.
The sides meet in their second friendly in Cincinnati on Sunday, mercifully the game kicking off at a more friendly Irish time of 8pm in the evening. It will be shown live on RTÉ 2.
IRELAND SQUAD – Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (unattached), Sophie Whitehouse (Charlton Athletic).
Defenders: Jessie Stapleton (West Ham), Anna Patten (Aston Villa), Caitlin Hayes (Brighton), Hayley Nolan (Crystal Palace), Chloe Mustaki (Bristol City), Megan Campbell (unattached).
Midfielders: Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Lazio), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Ruesha Littlejohn (Shamrock Rovers), Marissa Sheva (Sunderland), Ellen Molloy (Wexford).
Forwards: Kyra Carusa (San Diego Wave), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City), Emily Murphy (Newcastle United), Saoirse Noonan (Celtic), Erin Healy (Adelaide United), Izzy Atkinson (unattached).
