2025 Women’s European Championships qualifying Group A3: Republic of Ireland v England (Tuesday, Aviva Stadium, 7.30pm)
From Brendan Crossan at Castleknock Hotel, Dublin
REPUBLIC of Ireland ace Katie McCabe believes they can “beat anyone” on their day as star-studded England roll into town for an eagerly awaited Euro 2025 Qualifier at the Aviva Stadium tonight.
The Euro qualifying draw was desperately unkind to the Irish as they face three of the best teams in the world – France, England and Sweden – in a bid to reach next summer’s finals in Switzerland.
In a battling display, Ireland went down 1-0 to the French in Metz last Friday night while England stuttered to an opening 1-1 draw with Sweden at Wembley.
Speaking at the Irish team’s headquarters in Castleknock Hotel yesterday morning, both McCabe and manager Eileen Gleeson were “realistic” but weren’t going into the England tie without hope.
“We’re realistic,” said Dubliner McCabe who is expected to win her 86th international cap tonight.
“We know what we were up against. But we always believe we can go and beat anyone on our day.
“We’ve got the quality, we’ve got a world class goalkeeper [Courtney Brosnan], how we set up, the art of defending at times, we’ve shown our quality in how we can attack in previous games throughout the Nations League.
“So, it’s about finding the balance and for us against these big teams, these big nations, there are only a couple of moments, so we just need to make sure we’re on it tomorrow and decisive in those moments.”
Fresh from their League Cup final triumph over rivals Chelsea last week, McCabe will come face to face with some of her Arsenal team-mates in the Aviva Stadium tonight, including Euro-winning captain Leah Williamson who returns to the international scene for the first time in a year following a cruciate injury.
Alessia Russo, scorer against the Swedes, and defender Lotte Wubben-Moy could also face their Irish club-mate in Dublin tonight.