Karen Duggan said it was “not a tactic.”
The Republic of Ireland’s Women’s World Cup opener ultimately ended in bitter disappointment, despite a spirited second-half performance, as Australia managed to hold on to a 1-0 win by the skin of their teeth in Sydney.
Vera Pauw’s team rallied in the final half hour, creating excellent chances through some well-worked set pieces, however, they were unable to capitalise on a shaky Australian defence on Thursday in Sydney.
Much has been said about Ireland’s potential weaknesses going forward and while the chances were there to be taken advantage of, ultimately the lack of an outlet up front made the job extremely difficult on the night.
![Mackenzie Arnold of Australia and Kyra Carusa of Republic of Ireland compete for the ball](https://m0.sportsjoe.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/20141307/GettyImages-1558097717.jpg)
RTÉ panel question Ireland’s attacking strategy in World Cup opener loss.
Speaking after the match, members of the RTÉ panel criticised Ireland’s strategy going forward, with Pauw’s decision not to bring on World Cup qualifying star Amber Barrett proving questionable.
![Louise Quinn](https://m0.sportsjoe.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/20143143/GettyImages-1558060108.jpg)
Ireland lacking up front, but showed a lot of fight.
Vera Pauw spoke to RTÉ after the match about putting pressure on the Matildas’ towards the end of the game by pushing Louise Quinn up top.
“We brought on Abbey [Larkin] and Lucy [Quinn] to get more pressure forward, to have fresh legs there and they came on very very well. At the end, you could see we could put more pressure on them with Louise up front. You need to have a little bit of luck.”
Ireland captain Katie McCabe added, “Of course, we want to improve our final third entries and getting shots away at goal but we’ll be looking to recover now and then push on for Canada.”
Ireland face Canada in their next group game on Wednesday in Perth.
Related articles:
- Everything you need to know about the Women’s World Cup: Teams, groups, fixtures, dates, venues
- American born Marissa Sheva belts out Amhrán na bhFiann before World Cup opener
- Ireland legend compares Denise O’Sullivan to Roy Keane ahead of World Cup debut.
- Ireland’s pre-World Cup match abandoned after 20 minutes due to ‘overly physical play’.
- “She’s quite blunt, straight to the point” – Stephanie Zambra speaks about working under Ireland manager Vera Pauw
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