Vera Pauw says that beating Sweden in the preliminary qualifiers would be “one of the greatest achievements” ever in Irish sport
IRELAND manager Vera Pauw believes that a result for her side against Sweden in Ireland’s opening World Cup qualifier tomorrow would go down as one of the biggest achievements in Irish sport.
anchored in 33rd place in the world, the republic faces a Swedish side that is in second place in the FIFA ranking, behind the USA, with the Swedes expected to cross home to win the group and Ireland will probably fight with Finland and Slovakia, for others place.
A sold-out audience of 4,000 will support Girls In Green, but Pauw admits that this is about the toughest match in the European match “, she said before Wednesday’s last training session at Tallaght Stadium.
“It is fantastic to play high resistance, we love it. We have a team that has no fear of failure, but we are realistic where we stand. We are 33 on the ranking list, Sweden is second, finalists at the Olympics.
“It will be like playing Germany or the USA, Sweden is part of the small group. It will be a very, very tough match for us. I do not belittle it, but it is realistic. It will be very tough.
“It is the first game in the qualifying campaign, but as a game in itself, it would be massive, one of the biggest achievements for this country.
“As always when we play higher resistance we want to play our best game, we have prepared ourselves in a way to get the best out of ourselves and be connected to each other. That’s what we’ve been doing all along, we’re evolving and is growing but is also realistic in where we are, ”added Pauw, whose side missed the chance to qualify before meeting the Swedes as a trip to Georgia was called for covid-related reasons last month.
“We are not afraid, we have no fear of failure and we will see what we can do tomorrow, but I must be honest, Sweden is second in the world and that is another level.”