Ireland national coach Vera Pauw labels her players ‘world stars’ after scoring a historic first-ever point in Nigeria’s Women’s World Cup stalemate – and insists Australia’s experience will ‘change their lives’
- Ireland national coach Vera Pauw said her players were ‘world stars’ after leaving the World Cup
- The Girls in Green scored their first-ever point in a 0-0 draw with Nigeria
- Pauw said the experience will change the lives of its players and future players
Boss Vera Pauw said her players settled down as ‘world stars’ after Ireland’s debut campaign for the Women’s World Cup concluded with a historic run.
After seeing their last 16 hopes come to an end after a 1-0 defeat to co-hosts Australia and a 2-1 defeat to Canada in their first two matches, Ireland’s final match at their first major tournament ended in a 0-0 draw against Nigeria in Brisbane.
When asked how it felt for the Girls in Green to get their first ever World Cup point, Pauw told RTE Sport: ‘It’s a fantastic feeling.
They are 11 times African champions and I think we really had the better game. They always looked dangerous, but we were in control and we approached their goal, we created chances.
“We have to get there to score, and we did that so much better than in the previous games.
Ireland coach Vera Pauw said her players were ‘world stars’ after scoring a historic point
Ireland bowed out of the World Cup but got their first ever point in a 0-0 draw with Nigeria
“When you see what they did against Australia (Nigeria beat them 3-2 last Thursday), how they put pressure on them and how they used their pace, they couldn’t do that to us once. The game plan worked again and I’m so proud.”
Pauw added: “I think we can be very proud because three top-10 countries – I said before (ranked 40th) Nigeria is a top-10 country for me – and we have equal matches against them played.
“We lost to a penalty (against Australia), an own goal (against Canada) and now a draw. It is awesome.
‘Those players entered the tournament as very good players, they leave the tournament as world stars. It will change their lives, not only in the experience they have, but they will also get different contracts, they will get more opportunities and the next generation can step in.’
In the game against Canada, skipper Katie McCabe scored the team’s first ever goal at this level with a fourth-minute effort straight from a corner, and she made an early effort in this game, drilling wide of the edge of the box five minutes later .
Pauw said the experience will “change the lives” of its players and future generations
Nigeria advanced to the last 16 for the third time in their history after finishing second in Group B
Nigeria next came closest to scoring when they were thwarted by a fantastic save from Courtney Brosnan in the 52nd minute, the goalkeeper ducking to push Unchenna Kanu’s header against the crossbar.
McCabe, who described Brosnan’s rescue as ‘world class’, told RTE: ‘It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, so much fun.
“I’m dead proud of the girls for getting our first point on the board.”
Randy Waldrum’s Nigeria advance as Group B runners-up to a last-16 clash next Monday at the same stadium against the winners of Group D – currently led by England.