Katie McCabe will have the honour of leading her country’s national side at this year’s World Cup, just as Lia Walti will do for Switzerland. I have no doubt that the Arsenal player of the year in 2021 is excited about the prospect of Ireland making a big impact down under.
McCabe should be thrilled that history books will record the role she will play for her country in Australia and New Zealand, just like the former Ireland Captains (men included) before her (Mick McCarthy, 1990; Andy Townsend, 1994; Steve Staunton, 2002). She will undoubtedly wish for success and a statement from them.
The Girls in Green must take a chance and take a tremendous leap in Australia, and as Ireland’s striker Kyra Carusa indicates, they will do just that: “The moments are there. One missed call, one VAR challenge, one penalty, one good header from Louise Quinn, and this game is flipped on its head.
“Set-pieces are a massive thing for us.
“You put one of those away, and the game flips.
“But we need to be in that situation to also believe that, to continuously believe that.
Ultimately, the message is that there is positivity.
“The message was, again, what we need to do is challenge ourselves and perform against high-level teams.
“I’ve said it before: we have to put ourselves into uncomfortable situations and thrive in them.
In any case, they won’t just rely on fortunate circumstances, says Carusa, who adds that she and her teammates will try to be unpredictable in the hopes that it will help them surprise their opponents.
“I’m so incredibly impressed with the women I am surrounded by.
“The kind of change that has happened in the last few months alone is very impressive to see.
“That in itself tells me that we are more than capable with versatile players and people who are disciplined, and who want to be able to be versatile.
“We want to make sure we are unpredictable.
“That is a pro for us; that is something we can go into a game with, another team cannot understand what we are going to do.
“They can get formations and players and stuff like that, but the ability to surprise them in that way—we have to take advantage of that just a bit more.
“We have a closed-door match against Colombia, and that will be a massive opportunity to get some work in. And we’ve got days in between in Australia.”
On July 20th, Ireland will face Australia in their World Cup opener at Sydney Stadium, and hopefully they’ll get off to a good start.
I just can’t wait!
Michelle Maxwell
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