Karen Duggan: We’ve got some excellent footballers – the challenge is to bring the best out of them. Start with playing them in their right positions. Let the likes of Katie, Denise O’Sullivan and Megan Connolly play where they can shine.
Nigeria, Jamaica, Colombia, Morocco, South Africa ... their success has brought so much joy and colour to this tournament, it’s made it sparkle. The gap between the traditional elite in the women’s game and the chasing pack has narrowed beautifully.
But I fell into that trap of thinking that because they were ranked significantly lower than us, they should have been our target team in our group. As it proved, it was Canada who were there for the taking, mad as that sounds when they are the reigning Olympic champions. I look at someone like Courtney Brosnan who took so much stick after our last Euro qualifying campaign, but she has grown immeasurably since then, and along with Katie McCabe’s goal she provided us with the moment of the tournament with that wonder save against Nigeria. She grew.
Kyra Carusa was another who I thought did brilliantly for us. I’ve been a fan of hers for a long time because she has everything we needed in a striker because of the way we play. Big, strong, physically imposing with an incredible workrate. Her bullying Kadeisha Buchanan off the pitch in the Canada game stands out as a big moment for me. She’s not intimidated by any situation and she’s happy to mix it at any level. She was excellent. She grew..
I want to sign off by paying tribute to the squad’s “elders”, Niamh Fahey, Áine O’Gorman, Diane Caldwell and Louise Quinn. It was a genuine – and emotional – thrill for me to see them at the World Cup.
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