Swedes buy tickets for the Irish’s visit to Gothenburg
The Republic of Ireland can expect a great atmosphere in Gothenburg when they take on Sweden next month after 6,000 tickets were sold in just three days for the decisive World Cup qualifier.
Old Ullevi with a capacity of 18,000 is hosting the collision between Group A’s two top sides.
Sweden, ranked number 2 in the world, has won all five matches so far, including a 1-0 victory at Tallaght Stadium against Ireland in October last year.
Ireland are second after accumulating seven points from the four matches they have played so far.
The Swedes face Georgia on April 7 before the Irish come to town five days later, and could potentially seal their qualification as group winners if they collect six points from those two matches.
That view has clearly increased interest further among Swedes – with another large audience on the cards.
In November, Sweden won an important 2-1 win against Finland in front of 13,429 fans at Gamla Ullevi. It was a record audience for their women’s side, but it will probably get better next month.
It is a huge task for Vera Pauw’s side, but they have already proved capable of tackling biased environments.
In October, the Finnish Football Association moved its meeting to the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of women’s football in the country, but Girls in Green enjoyed a noisy atmosphere to take the score.
They have had record support themselves – 5,164 saw Ireland play 1-1 against Slovakia in November last year – but Pauw knows that Sweden is the biggest challenge they will face in this campaign.
Winning the group was never the goal. Secondly, and a play-off place, is what Ireland wants so any kind of result in Gothenburg would be a big bonus.
Not because the players are thinking along those lines.
“This week was all about Sweden, all our focus was on that,” said Denise O’Sullivan after Ireland’s three Pinatar Cup matches had ended.
“It was fantastic to rotate the team in the second match, gain more confidence in the girls who enter the Sweden match. It’s about Sweden now and we can take a very positive out of it. We are in a really good place.”
Ireland travel to Georgia in June, host Finland in a huge match in September and then end with a trip to Slovakia a few days later.