It promises to be a big night at Tallaght Stadium as the Republic of Ireland’s Women’s National Team get their 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifying campaign underway against Sweden.
There will be a Covid Capacity limited full house of 4,000 fans and the game will also be broadcast live on RTÉ2 at 7 PM.
The side come into the game off the back of an impressive friendly win last month against Australia.
On official World Rankings, Sweden are the best side in Europe, second only in world terms to the USA so this will be as tough a game as the team have played. Vera Pauw’s side are currently ranked 33rd in the world and 21st in Europe.
Sweden have already played two matches in the group beating Slovakia 1-0 away from home and Georgia 4-0 at home four days later. Ireland’s opening qualifier away in Georgia was pushed back to next Summer following Covid restrictions.
In qualifying for the Euro 2021 Finals in England they scored six goals away from home against Slovakia and Austria.
This is as tough as it gets but it feels as though this team is ready to step up with its first major tournament qualification. They travel to Finland next Tuesday for what will be a key fixture and a strong performance tonight will tee them up for that.
“This game marks the beginning of a new campaign,” said Manager Vera Pauw. “It also represents a point where a lot of hard work has led us to with friendly games against teams ranked in the Top 20 of the world – Denmark, Belgium, Iceland and Australia. We believe that we have benefitted greatly from testing ourselves against quality opposition and that those games will help us in our pursuit of qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.”
“The target for us is to qualify. We fully understand how difficult our group is with four tough opponents in Sweden, Finland, Slovakia and Georgia. But we must believe in ourselves, work as hard as we can, and show the world that we are ready for this.”
“Sweden are a fantastic team. They finished as runners-up in the Tokyo Olympics and are ranked second in the world. We know all about their quality but it is up to us – as a team collectively – to embrace this challenge. We hope that playing in front of our fantastic fans will also help us.
“I’ve said it so many times and every time I feel it in my bones: the Irish fans are really special! There is no doubt that they help to drive the team on during difficult periods and inspire them to keep working hard. It definitely had an impact in our win over Australia and I hope to experience the same again in front of a sold-out crowd.”
The team have been busy on the commercial front of late with partnerships signed with Cadbury, Carlsberg and Sky Ireland in the last few months.
We will be there tonight and will report tomorrow on the activations that have been taking place in the ground and across social media.
Today’s Daily Video is a good example of how Sky’s storytelling skills will be a winner for the group.
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