The preamble to Ireland’s first ever World Cup has proved vexingly prolonged. Trouble has followed the team around. Allegations and accusations. Injuries, seen and unseen, all before an official ball has been kicked.
So, on Sunday, Ruesha Littlejohn and few older heads sped down the Gold Coast.
“Sat on the beach for the day. So that was lovely. I love going in and out of the sea,” said the 33-year-old midfielder. “That’s like my therapy. That switches me right off.
“Look, it’s been a long camp. Now we’re hopefully getting to crunch times so I’m sure it will fly in now when the games start.
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“The way things are, it’s like when you go and stay with relatives, things can get annoying at times and you just need to take yourself away and cool off. So [it’s the] exact same here. We’ve a good group of girls, there is a lot of giggles and a lot of banter. It’s nice.”
Denise O’Sullivan is injured but healing. Her race to recovery in order to play against Australia on Thursday in Sydney will probably be won. O’Sullivan was photographed on the street outside the Emporium hotel in Brisbane yesterday, beaming alongside Dr Siobhán Foreman and physio Angela Kenneally. The moon boot and crutch had disappeared. She was walking, slowly. She trained last night back in Meakin Park.
As did Katie McCabe, who was forced off at Tallaght with a knock to her left ankle in the 3-0 defeat to France on July 6th. Thankfully, McCabe has recovered. Ireland are a run-of-the-mill outfit without their superstars, O’Sullivan and McCabe.
None of this is possible without them. They shared 13 goals during qualification.
Following Friday’s abandoned “friendly,” the Colombians have switched to preparing for Colin Bell’s South Korea on July 25th, drawing 2-2 with China in Sydney on Monday.
The divergent perspectives remain entrenched. The South Americans branded the incident with O’Sullivan’s as “a little foul”, while Ireland manager Vera Pauw deemed it the worse sequence of skulduggery she has observed on a football field in 47 years.
That remains some claim.
“The tackle was over the ball, the ball was away and it was on the ankle.”
Unwilling to comply with the FAI plan to say nothing about the Colombia game, she continued: “Even a hand lower, she would have been out of the World Cup, for sure. And it was deliberate.”
The Colombians will see that last line and respond.
“We have been in contact with Fifa, so that is not my decision,” Pauw continued of the FAI choosing not to release video evidence that supposedly proves there were worse challenges before Lorena Bedoya’s tackle on O’Sullivan.
“I have nothing to hide. It has been discussed and it has been decided not to put it up. But it is not because I didn’t want to put it up. It is more like Australia is coming on and this has happened, let’s not go into another fight with the Colombians because I want to highlight again that their staff was absolutely calm.”
Littlejohn was another alleged victim of Colombian foul play, shipping a heavy knock moments before O’Sullivan was felled at Meakin Park.
“I’m a big girl, I’m a strong girl, I’ll be fine,” smiled the Scottish-born midfielder who was recently released by Aston Villa.
Daniela Caracus, the Colombia midfielder, branded the Irish team “little girls,” well?
“She’s entitled to her opinion,” Littlejohn responded, “if that’s her opinion, that’s her opinion.”
Where did you get whacked?
“A couple of places.”
One movement or few challenges?
“One movement. But that’s it, it’s done. I’m all good.”
Pauw said she withdrew her players from a much-needed run out on Friday because she saw “fear in their eyes”. Littlejohn, who is expected to start in midfield against Australia, adopts a different perspective.
“I don’t think I would say I was afraid. I would definitely say there was a concern. We’re a few days out from the World Cup. We move forward and hopefully we’re all fit and well going into the Australia game.”
There will be bite in the Aussie tackles too.
“I think we all know we can handle ourselves. We are a physical enough team. But we’re not a dirty team. We’ll compete against Australia like they’ll compete against us. It’s a football game, played by the rule book. There is going to be VAR there. It’s going to be a clean competitive game of football.”
Canada and Nigeria will also be tough propositions.
“We couldn’t have had a worse group probably. We’re playing at a World Cup. there are never going to be easy games but we would like to show what we can do too. I think a lot of people probably outside Ireland don’t expect much from us. But at the same time, that is okay.
“There is pressure on us. It’s our first major tournament. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be difficult. We’re going to ride a few waves, weather a few storms, I’m sure. But we look at the players in this team and we know the quality that we have. We know what players can make stuff happen and hopefully we can play to our strengths.”
There is no greater shop window than a World Cup and Littlejohn needs the three matches in Group B to revive her career.
“Yeah, it’s been an absolute write-off of a season, I don’t think it could be any worse really. Obviously I suffered from that Achilles tendinopathy too which is ongoing. You’re always trying to keep on top of that.
“Even going into this tournament, that’s something you’re going to have to try and keep on top of.
“We’ve got a good group of girls in this team and this squad. But I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be playing anyway if Megan Campbell and Aoife Mannion had been fit. I probably wouldn’t be playing. But that’s football, it is how it can work out at times.”
Ray Houghton’s goals in Stuttgart and New Jersey get another airing. How about a Glaswegian hat-trick at major tournaments?
“I was just saying up there I don’t think I have scored for Ireland in six years. That’s a long time, I don’t even know what has to happen. A ball might need to smack off me in the box and go in. I’d be delighted either way.”
