VERA PAUW SAYS she will be prepared for any potential backlash as her Republic of Ireland women’s national football team travel to the USA for a World Cup warm-up double-header in April.The Ireland manager remains determined to clear her name after allegations of misconduct were made against her in a NWSL/NWSLPA report released in December 2022.
In April, she will bring her World Cup-bound Ireland team to Austin, Texas, and St Louis, Missouri, to face the all-conquering champions twice in three days.“There were people asking me, ‘Do you dare to go back?’ and I am thinking, ‘Do I dare?’,” Pauw said ahead of her return to the States. “That will be after the World Cup. That is the final decision we have agreed so I will not be busy with that now because the team needs my full energy.
“Education, and then we’ll see after the World Cup. The way I look at it now, I am not going to spend my life on that.”