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By: Ebenezer Bajela.
Republic of Ireland women’s national football team striker Rianna Jarrett has played down the tense conversation that ensued between Katie McCabe and manager Vera Pauw during their goalless draw against Nigeria at the ongoing Women’s World Cup.
With 20 minutes to play in Ireland’s final match of the tournament against the Super Falcons on Monday, captain McCabe was seen in a heated conversation with Pauw.
The Ireland manager revealed in her press conference that McCabe had asked for substitutions to be made.
Jarrett, who suffered three ACL injuries at 21 before going to establish herself as one of the most potent strikers in the domestic game, winning back-to-back Player of The Season awards in 2018 and 2019, in an interview with RTÉ Women’s World Cup podcast said the captain asking that fresh legs were required late in Ireland’s goalless draw with Nigeria at the World Cup was ‘quite normal.’
“In a lot of teams that I have played in, managers have conversations with their captains that they’d have with their assistants, that they’d have with their other coaching staff,” the striker said.
“Captains are heavily involved in the dynamics sometimes. Managers do turn to their captains for their thoughts and opinions. I do believe that Vera links in with Katie on a lot of things.
“What happened against Nigeria isn’t out of the norm. I think it happens in a lot of teams. Just because the player asks for something to happen, it doesn’t always mean that the manager makes that decision.
“That was Katie’s opinion and I think the opinion of others watching on from the outside, that players did look a little bit leggy. Obviously, Sinead Farrelly hasn’t played 90 minutes for a long, long time. Obviously, she’s only just come back to professional football. She’s just only just come on to the international scene. I thought she had a very, very good game against Nigeria. I thought her and Katie worked well together.
“In terms of Katie looking for fresh legs on her side, it was probably to help her get on the ball a little bit more.”