If any of us was offered a trip to Tahiti, it’s highly unlikely we’d say ‘na’. Then again, none of us is Gianni Infantino. So, when Sky News’ Rob Harris reported that the Fifa president had left New Zealand for Tahiti on a private jet last Tuesday, you had to chuckle.
He, after all, was the lad who kept saying “it’s time to respect women” when accusing global broadcasters of offering derisory loot for the rights to televise the tournament. And when tickets for games were slow to sell in New Zealand? “It’s never too late to do the right thing,” he said, “come to watch the matches.”
You’ll recall that he made a song and a dance about attending at least part of all 64 games at last year’s World Cup in Qatar.
After his departure from New Zealand – he hasn’t visited Australia yet during the tournament – his Instagram account continued to post images from World Cup games, almost like he was actually at them.
Copa 71: ‘These women were gaslit. Imagine playing a sport at the highest level and then being told, that didn’t exist’
Amber Barrett: ‘I say nothing when I don’t know the full truth ... The social media people should have done the same’
Sports Review 2023: Magical moment as Katie McCabe creates history
Katie McCabe interview: ‘It’s important to have characters, you don’t want a team of robots’
What urgent business had he to attend to in Tahiti? He was meeting up with their men’s beach soccer team ahead of their participation in the Beach Soccer World Cup. In February 2024. No kidding.
Katie McCabe’s the green stats queen
Fifa have a hugely detailed World Cup stats section on their website, much of it leaving you feeling nothing but sympathy for the poor souls who actually have to count stuff like “most attempted line breaks” and “most defensive pressures applied”.
In the individual stats for Ireland, Denise O’Sullivan tops three categories, most notably “total distance ran” in our two games so far – an exhausting 22.17km. Kyra Carusa heads the list of Irish players with the “most receptions between midfield and defensive line”, and, predictably, Courtney Brosnan wins out when it comes to “most goals prevented” (30).
But who tops every other category? You’re not even getting one guess – Katie McCabe, of course.
Ready? Most passes (68), most crosses (14), most attempts on goal (5), most sprints (109), most attempted line breaks (47) and most completed line breaks (26). And most goals. Granted, she didn’t have much competition: one. But yeah, she’s the queen.
Sloppy Slater needs to up his geography game
Since his retirement from the game back in 2001, former Australian international Robbie Slater has made a bit of a name for himself as a pundit and columnist of the feather-ruffling kind.
Last year he wound Sam Kerr up after she had become Australia’s all-time leading goalscorer, male or woman, overtaking Tim Cahill. Slater reckoned her achievement was “not equal” to Cahill’s because her goals were scored in the women’s game. The comparison, he wrote, was “ridiculous”.
Those who sundered him for that take are a bit befuddled by him now being employed as a pundit for the women’s World Cup. But they’ve taken no small delight in giggling at his complaints about Australian players, male and woman, having to go abroad “in the search of playing professional football”.
“They aren’t necessarily going to the European countries,” he said, “they are going to places like Scandinavia ...” Hello?
Olympico goal straight from the potato fields of Kilnamanagh
A hat-tip here to the Daily Mirror’s Mark McCadden who spotted a, well, quirky tribute to Katie McCabe’s wondrous corner against Canada in a “Portuguese-language publication”.
First up, did you know that a goal scored direct from a corner was called an “Olympico”? Us neither. It was, apparently, given said name after Argentina’s Cesareo Onzari achieved the feat in 1924 against reigning Olympic champions Uruguay.
So, the Portuguese-language publication’s take on our Katie’s goal: “From potato fields to an Olympico goal in a World Cup.”
Are there many potato fields in Kilnamanagh?
Quote of the Day
“Qualifying for our first major tournament will always be sweet, but it’s all over now and we’ve nothing to show for it. I won’t lie – it’s pretty pish.”
Don’t tell Ruesha Littlejohn – yes, she’s a Glaswegian – that it’s the competing, not the winning, that matters.
Number of the Day: 550,600
The number of viewers who tuned in to RTÉ’s coverage of Ireland’s game against Canada. Add in the 234,883 who watched on the RTÉ Player and you have the biggest audience for a women’s team event in Irish television history.
