Ireland will be forced to go through the playoffs to reach next year’s Women’s World Cup finals in Brazil next summer after an unlucky 1-0 loss to France in Grenoble last night. Ireland would have felt that they could have walked away from the Stade des Alpes with at least a point last night, but it wasn’t to be, as Melvine Malard’s spectacular overhead kick proved to be the decisive moment in a match of two parts; the first half was dominated by the French, with the only goal coming five minutes from half-time, the second half dominated by Carla Ward’s Irish side, the Republic having the better chances after Thiniba Samoura was sent off, picking up her second yellow card of the game after a cynical pullback on Emily Murphy with 18 minutes left of the match.
Ireland boss Carla Ward was incredibly proud of her team, saying that her squad
live and die for the badge.
She also stated that
whatever the result, we continue on the journey and always want to get better.
That journey will continue this October, with the draw for the playoffs set to be made in two weeks’ time. Ward’s team will face a side from League C; either Romania, Greece, Kosovo, Hungary, Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan or Bosnia and Herzegovina will be the opponent for the Girls in Green, who have every intention to still qualify for next year’s tournament, which begins on the 24th of June next year.
