Vera Pauw interrupts her training match with Ireland after a ‘hard game’ Colombia | Women’s World Cup

Spain won no less than 9-0 against Orange’s opponents Vietnam, while Ireland’s national coach Vera Pauw ended their match early after a physical play from the Colombian opponent.

For Vera Pauw, Ireland’s national coach, the World Cup begins on opening day (July 20). She and her team trained against Colombia for the last time today, but it certainly didn’t go as planned. According to a statement from the Irish Football Association, the closed game was called off after twenty minutes as it became “too physical”. It was in accordance with the arbitration.

Instead of playing the match, national coach Pauw opted to shoot a training session. Irish media report that player Denise O’Sullivan had to be hospitalized after a Colombian foul. It is still unclear how serious the injury is. This situation would have allowed the Irish staff to think enough was enough and end the match, after Colombia had already played hard before this period and received two yellow cards.

Outsider Spain today wrapped up the exhibition campaign against Vietnam, the Orange Lionesses’ final opponents in the group stage on August 1. The Asian women were already heralded as one of the weakest countries in the World Cup, but Spain made it known once again today. Behind closed doors, it became 9-0 in Auckland for the Spaniards, who thus increased their goal difference in the last 13 international matches (11 wins, one loss, one draw) to 52 goals for and 6 against.

Spain are in Group C of the World Cup along with Costa Rica, Zambia and Japan. Besides Vietnam, the Dutch will face world champions USA and Portugal in Group E. Orange kick off against Portugal on July 23.

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Australia beat France 1-0 in Melbourne. Manchester City striker Mary Fowler scored in the 66th minute. The match brought together a record number of Australian fans. No less than 50,629 supporters filled the stands in Melbourne: the highest number of visitors ever recorded for an Australian women’s match at home. Australia’s previous attendance record for a women’s game was set in 2021, when there were 36,109 fans in the stands in Sydney for an exhibition game against the United States.

Host country Australia, who are ranked in Group B of the World Cup group stage, will play the first World Cup game against Ireland van Pauw on July 20. Then come the matches against Nigeria (July 27) and Canada (July 31).