The great Irish evolution is on the clock. The USA games are in six weeks. 147 days until the World Cup opener against Australia.
In an unusual situation for international football, Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw admitted before this drab draw with China that three new caps – Aoife Mannion, Marissa Sheva and Deborah-Anne De La Harpe – were effectively on trial.
Each player was born to Irish families exiled abroad and, truth be told, they hoped to be capped by England, the USA, Australia before applying for Irish passports.
[ Ireland v China: Damp squib overtaken by FAI securing USA matches in AprilOpens in new window ]
Mannion appears to have nailed down a starting role in defence with an assured 69 minutes, in only her third game since returning from a second anterior cruciate ligament tear. The 27-year-old cannot get into the Manchester United team but, similar to so many players in Stephen Kenny’s men’s squad, the international arena might enhance her club prospects.
“Aoife performed really well and gave us a calmness in the back and a toughness,” said Ireland manager Vera Pauw, “and she can only grow, but the key thing for her is that we need to keep her healthy and that means not getting injured, and from there she can gradually grow.”
Pauw mentioned “jet lag,” which may help to explain De La Harpe’s less than impactful performance at right wing back. The Sydney native was replaced at half-time by Áine O’Gorman, her chief rival to make the cut.
Mannion is the only clear positive from this outing, as she almost forced a winner off Katie McCabe’s free kick.
“I’m not sure why [the referee] disallowed it and all I was worried about was the Chinese lobbing us at the other end,” said Mannion. “They wanted to play small passes to drag us in, playing cat and mouse, and they were sometimes successful in that. They had personality too. We wish we could have got that goal.”
[ Vera Pauw’s women had chances to win as Aoife Mannion was impressive in debutOpens in new window ]
Make no mistake, this was a poor Ireland performance, disjointed and glaringly aimless despite expressed intentions to become a possession-based side that can live with the US, France, Australia and Canada; powerhouse soccer nations that must be handled if 2023 is to be deemed a success.
“We all want to play out, we all want to be Spain, but you need to grow to it,” said Pauw. “If you jump to a level that you are not on yet, it won’t go right. And that is not what we want. We are growing gradually, step by step so we control the process and what we are asking is achievable.”
The great evolution is on the clock. The USA games are in six weeks. 147 days until the World Cup opener. Tick tock.
