The 42 Reports from Meakin Park, Brisbane.

VERA PAUW SAYS Katie McCabe is fully fit — and stresses Ireland “will not be afraid” in their World Cup debut against Australia next week.

The Irish captain suffered an injury scare against France last Thursday, but trained fully at an open session at Meakin Park, Brisbane, this evening.

“There are no worries at all,” Pauw told Irish reporters before the training session, which approximately 100 fans attended.

“She did the last training session. Yesterday we had a pool session which is also part of our jet lag protocol. It is all planned. The day before we played on 11-a-side on a very small pitch and she went in full power, full blocks, full sprints so there is no issue with her.”

The rest of the 23-strong squad (plus three training players) are fit and trained fully, though Abbie Larkin did depart today’s session prematurely.

Ireland face the Matildas, the co-hosts, at Sydney’s Stadium Australia on Thursday 20 July before playing Canada in Perth, and Nigeria in Brisbane, at their first-ever major tournament.

First, they tune up against Colombia in an uncapped, behind closed doors game on Friday.

Pauw explained they had “no secrets” with that match footage set to be uploaded to a Fifa portal. Australia are due to play France at the same time in Melbourne, and Irish scouts will be present.

The Dutch coach also referenced Zambia’s shock 3-2 friendly win over Germany — the same scoreline that Ireland won by when Zambia visited Dublin for a warm-up match last month.

“We were surprised but we also knew they were so strong. It was so difficult to stop them going forward. But then scoring ourselves against an opponent like that, against whom Germany only scored twice, that also shows that we are really improving. We do know we will be pushed back by the big nations. But we also know that we can go forward.

“And we also feel that we have shown that in the Zambia game when it was really pre-season, players were only a week and a half on the pitch. So I’m realistic. I think we can only go and do better and better all the time.”

So that’s the message for the Australia showdown?

“We are fully prepared for Australia but we are realistic. We know the power of Australia is huge, their strength is especially their power. Over the wings and the centre, at the back, they overpower and press everywhere. It is so difficult to play against. But yeah, we need to deal with that. That is why we’re here, that is what we’re proud of, I’ve said that so many times. We will give our all, we will not be afraid, we will not hide because of a fear of failure because we don’t have that.”

“We say always that we need to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, you’ve heard players saying that,” Pauw added. “But now it is really uncomfortable.

“Now we really need to fight and be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Everything now is a lot. But that is why we keep things simple, the same as we’ve always done, we don’t make many changes in how we approach things It will help us to feel more comfortable with the uncomfortable.”

Asked what she can take from her 2009 European Championships run to the semi-final with the Netherlands and other tournament experience, Pauw concluded:

“The key thing for me is I trust on the periodisation method. The Netherlands have showed that a team that is vulnerable in the second half, that is actually called the fittest.

“With South Africa for the Olympics, we had to travel to tropical areas in three groups, arriving at five o’clock in the morning, and still being able to put pressure on Brazil in the 91st minute. That is what I take from the preparations with the other teams.

“Other than that, 2009 is too long ago in the development of women’s football. 2016 is closer and what we’ve done there with the preparation game of the USA. The way we build it up, they’re the lessons we’ve practiced here. I’m really happy with how we’ve built things up.”

Written by Emma Duffy and posted on the42.ie

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