Women’s World Cup: Vera Pauw craves victory against Nigeria for Irish fans 

By Wale Mustapha

Head Coach of Ireland women’s national team, Vera Pauw has asked his girls to go into their final Group B match against Nigeria with the mindset of winning as gift for football faithful of the country.

The Irish have had their inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup journey halted with defeats in opening two games against Australia and Canada. They will be wrapping the journey with a final game against the Super Falcons who are leading the group sir four points.

Despite not having much as stake for the match, the former said victory is needed to reflect their impressive show of character, commitment and dedication as well as the fans who have been solidly behind the team through the journey to Australia and New Zealand.

“We will go into that next game in Brisbane and we will fight like hell,” Pauw told media.

“We will try to come back with a result for Ireland, the fans who came out here to watch us and to show just how good this team is.

“You saw it at times. We’re so close to being one of the best teams in the world, everyone can see that.

“With this being our first tournament, the fact we are so disappointed that we held Canada to a 2-1 and it could have been a very different result, I think you see that.

“We’ll be back but we definitely have business to finish with Nigeria,” she said.

The encounter between Nigeria and Ireland will take place in Brisbane on Monday by 11am.