Campbell is not injured. The management do not deem her fit enough to travel. Same goes for Kiernan.
“And other players have jumped up a level as you saw against Zambia and that prompts tough decisions.” Still, the 24-year-old looked like the a genuine striker available to Ireland as recently as last Thursday when she had a goal disallowed for offside in a 45-minute run against Zambia.“Unfortunately, it’s the football fitness. She only played 30 minutes this year and then 45 minutes. We gave her the chance to fully train and she did really well. But the data showed the time between explosive actions were getting longer as the first half went on.
Clearly, Pauw intends to start Carusa as the lone forward supported by wing-backs Katie McCabe and Heather Payne come the World Cup opener against Australia in Sydney on July 20th. We know this because the Ireland manager spelt it out.Until the two USA friendlies in April, Pauw used Heather Payne as a defender playing at centre-forward. Payne is now reclassified as a wing back with Sheva about to become a key player in the team.
“The final decisions were made after the last session and rewatching the video. That is elite sport but I have broken dreams. It is so hard for them because that World Cup will never come back.