Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw is perfecting the delicate balance between accepting her World Cup debutants’ underdog status and daring them to “outbelieve” they have what it takes to go deep.
The Girls in Green open their tournament on July 20 under perhaps the most difficult circumstances: facing co-hosts Australia in a match so popular advance ticket sales forced a venue change to Sydney’s 80,000-plus capacity – and now sold out – Stadium Australia.
To advance to the knockouts, Pauw’s side – ranked 22nd in the world – will need to finish second in a group that includes two top-10 teams in seventh-ranked Olympic champions Canada and the number-10 Matildas alongside Nigeria in 40th.
“Something proves only to be impossible the moment it shows to be impossible, and that is our slogan,” Pauw said at an open training session in front of Irish fans at Brisbane’s Meakin Park.
Here at @IrelandFootball’s open training and chatting to manager Vera Pauw about their maiden World Cup campaign.
Excellent news: she says Katie McCabe is healthy and good to go. #WWC2023 #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/M7W2SNR0TR
— Rachel Steinberg – at the #FIFAWWC (@rae_steinberg) July 12, 2023
“We get everything out of ourselves, we prepare the best we can. We have a fantastic programme to prepare ourselves and we give our all. We give the best that we have at that moment.
“But in that we need to be realistic. It’s our first World Cup. We do not have as many players as others have, but we have a fantastic group with a heart for Ireland.
“That is immense. We stick together. We’re a team. We work for each other and we give ourselves for each other, and that is our biggest strength.”
The Dutch boss gave Republic fans an encouraging update, confirming her squad was fully fit including captain Katie McCabe, who gave supporters a scare when she tweaked her ankle in a friendly against France last week but has already fully participated in training.
The Arsenal player of the season and her team-mates have been adjusting to the significant time difference through regimented scheduling protocol, though they have avoided the light-altering sunglasses worn by England’s Lionesses.
Pauw said: “The doctor showed there is no evidence and we want to just keep things simple.
“We use the daylight as our guide, we go out of the hotel a lot, we have a lot of free time to be out and with our families and friends to get the sunshine in their eyes.
“This is why we are here, the jet-lag is part of it. You don’t have to be. You can be sitting at home with the feet on the couch watching a movie. Playing elite sport is a choice and that is comfortable at times and uncomfortable at times. We just need to get over it.”
Always time for a #COYGIG | #OUTBELIEVE pic.twitter.com/RsU0tVplpx
— Ireland Football (@IrelandFootball) July 11, 2023
Pauw was at all the World Cups from 1999-2015 as part of the technical study group, but reminded “now is the first time I’m along the sideline, so it’s very special for all of us”.
The reality of a first World Cup is still in many ways still sinking in, but the support seems to be popping up at every turn since Pauw’s squad landed in Australia, where 80,927 Ireland-born people were recorded in the 2021 census and many more consider themselves to have Irish heritage.
Pauw added: “It feels especially real because we’ve met so many Irish people. The whole of Dublin was with our billboards and our slogan ‘outbelieve’.
“We do outbelieve. We do outbelieve we can do something. We know where we stand, we know that we are the underdogs, and it’s not playing but that is the case. We’re 22 in the world ranking list and we’re improving, but we know we have to be realistic and we will give our all.”
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