Vera Pauw and her Ireland team were elated after a famous win over Australia on Tuesday night - and Pauw praised her squad, calling them "tigers" for digging deep in Tallaght.
It had been a tough few months for Pauw and Ireland, as they fell to seven successive defeats, but they bounced back in dramatic fashion against Australia on Tuesday night.
Vera Pauw full of praise for Ireland after Australia win
Vera Pauw has been in charge of the Ireland women's team for two years now and, as the team enters another qualifying campaign, for the 2023 World Cup, they will be buoyed by a big win against Australia.
The Aussies are ranked 11th in the world, and Ireland showed great resilience to see out the game in Tallaght Stadium.
After the game, Dutchwoman Pauw spoke to RTÉ and praised the resilience of her team.
A delighted Vera Pauw hails her Irish 'tigers' after victory over Australia #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/TeHfjbQ9xC
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) September 21, 2021
She praised the team for responding well to injury blows and likened her squad's mentality to that of tigers.
It's so important. We've invested so much and we took to the field and we knew what was our road - this tells us that we can beat anyone with this squad. We had eleven injured players. We missed eleven injured players.
You cannot believe how strong Ireland is. What a fantastic mentality and a fantastic bunch of tigers we have.
She also acknowledged the effect of her in-game management, before saying that the team now feel confident going into next month's World Cup qualifiers against Sweden and Finland.
We had to make a few changes to close it up. I think the changes that we made were flexible and were maybe surprising - but it did work!
I've never been worried about the defeats of the friendly games. It's about the next game - but let's enjoy today!
I think what the captain said is, 'we know now that we are on the right way and we go our own path.'
The win against Australia is a well-deserved shot in the arm for Vera Pauw and Ireland and, after a near miss in qualifying for EURO 2022, hopes will be high that it will spur them on to the 2023 World Cup qualifiers in good form.
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