Carla Ward has called upon the Girls in Green‘s fervent support to get Ireland’s ‘biggest crowd yet’ at the Aviva when they face Poland in December for a place at the World Cup.
After Ireland completed a 4-0 win over Kazakhstan at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Tuesday night, Carla Ward spoke to the media knowing that Poland await in the next round. The Halfway Line was there to hear from her.
Ireland ‘know what to expect’ from ‘very good’ Poland side says Ward
After Poland’s dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Belgium in Gdańsk, Ireland knew they’d be facing Nina Patalon’s side in December’s FIFA Women’s World Cup play offs. Ward was asked what she felt about the prospect of playing a familiar opponent,
“They were very good” Ward said. “I’ll be honest, I watched it, I watched it out there, I watched the whole game. They were very good, Poland were, but we’ve played them. We know what to expect.
“They played a similar way to when we played them first time last time round. The beauty of it is we can have a look at their games. I’m not so sure what they’re going to take away from our two games.”
In qualifying for EURO 2025 Poland played a side they’d lost to twice in the League Phase but then beat home and away in the play offs in Austria. Ward was asked if playing a side like this is more dangerous than playing an unknown quantity,
“No, we were talking about earlier” Ward asserted. “We know them. They know us. I think it’s set up to be a good game. They’ve got a good squad, good players. We knew when we drew one of those two, we got the toughest draw.
Carla Ward says ‘We need everyone there’ for play off at the Aviva
Ireland were in the UEFA Nations League play offs this time last year and managed to best Belgium over two legs to become the first League B side to beat a League A side in a play off tie. Does that experience of victory at the Aviva hold them in good stead for this tie?
“Yeah, we need everyone there, don’t we?” Ward rallied. “Hopefully you guys can drum a little bit of that up and drive people to the Aviva. We have big crowds at the Aviva, but we are going to need our biggest yet.
Ward delights that ‘everyone’s contributed’ to the success of this window
Across the two matches against Kazakhstan Ireland were not short on goals, twelve goals in two matches is an exceptional scoring rate at any level, never mind a World Cup play off. Carla Ward delighted in that return in front of goal,
“Ten goal scorers across two games, that’s unbelievable” Ward smiled. “Find me another nation that can give you 10 goal scorers in a window. I don’t think… In fact, if any of you can bring me the last time a country did that, I’ll buy you a drink.
“It’s so pleasing. Everyone’s contributed, and we had some questions around maybe some partnerships, can players playing different variations. I’ve been really pleased with what we’ve seen.”
A shadow can often feel like it falls upon Ireland when a play off is discussed after events at the Aviva in 2024 against Wales. Ward was clear in her assessment of how that might impact the team,
“Forget Wales, honestly, forget Wales” Ward exclaimed. “We have come a long way since then. It won’t even be [a conversation].”
