While Ireland will get their maiden World Cup campaign underway later this week, the preparation for their tournament opener against Australia hit a stumbling block in recent days.
The behind closed doors friendly against Colombia on Friday was supposed to act as the final fine tuning exercise ahead of the fixture in Sydney, only for it to then be brought to a halt after just 20 minutes.
It soon emerged that Ireland opted to end the game due to some 'overly physical' play from their opponents, with a number of hefty challenges being produced in the opening few minutes. The final straw came after a tackle on Denise O'Sullivan, one that could rule her out of the match against the Aussies.
Footage of that final tackle would emerge on social media yesterday.
Footage has surfaced via Colombian media of the challenge that has left Denise O'Sullivan as a doubt for Thursday's World Cup game against Australia.
The match was abandoned shortly after.pic.twitter.com/BXrYWLYXZw— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) July 16, 2023
Ireland have faced some criticism in the aftermath of this game, most notably from their opponents. The Colombian camp have claimed that the Irish overreacted to play on the pitch, with the footage of the challenge being leaked to their local media.
Vera Pauw defends Ireland decision to end Colombia game early
Vera Pauw has insisted that her coaching staff took the decision to end the game in order to protect their players ahead of the World Cup, something she stands by.
Speaking to the media earlier today, she once again defended the way the game was brought to a halt.
We know that it was the total atmosphere and this was not the only incident. That is what we know.
And the tackle is over the ball and on the ankle, the ball was away and it was on the ankle. And not even a hand lower, she would have been out of the World Cup, for sure. And it was deliberate.
We have dealt with it very professionally, I am proud of that still, the way we dealt with it...
To be honest, at this moment, it does not bother me because I have switched off my social media and haven’t looked.
For obvious reasons. I need to be here for the team. Completely.
We are just busy with Australia, at this moment and we are just focusing and focusing and focusing on them, that is all we are doing at this moment.
Vera Pauw would go on to say that she is hopeful that Denise O'Sullivan can still feature in the opening World Cup game against Australia, with the midfielder now out of the protective boot she had been wearing since the tackle.
It would certainly be a huge boost for Ireland if she managed to overcome her injury concerns as quickly as possible.
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