Ireland WNT vs Slovenia - Match Report

Tonight’s latest UEFA Nations League game saw Carla Ward’s Girls In Green undergo an unexpected thrashing from a tight knitted Slovenia side. The game in SRC Bonifika Stadium saw both teams be put through the paces battling it out with one another, which in the end saw Slovenia come out as more then worthy successors.

Changes were expected to be made to Carla Ward’s team as she continues to develop a grasp of her ideal starting XI, with Megan Connolly coming in at the last minute for an injured Megan Campbell, along with Amber Barrett swapping out with Marissa Sheva. Slovenia came into the game with an unchanged 11 from their previous 2-1 win over Greece on Friday the 21st.

Both teams knew they were going to be tested both defensively and going forward, Ireland had tweaked Katie Mccabes position to a more attacking role with her and Denise O’sullivan playing as two number 8’s which showed that Carla Ward had her sights set on attacking this game from the start, but ultimately lack of rotation and squad selection let them down during this International Break.

Slovenia came out from the moment the whistle blew and attacked Ireland in numbers, resulting in Courtney Brosnan being furious with her defense. Slovenia's Zara Kramzar came out with guns blazing, repeating her fantastic performance she displayed vs Greece earlier in the week, while Lara Prasniker also put in a heated display, scoring twice in the game.

In the first 28 minutes Ireland found themselves 2-0 down, with both goals coming from star studded winger Lara Prasniker. Ireland lacked ideas, fire power by 35 minutes as they went 3-0 down with O'sullivan picking up a yellow card along the way, so at half time the game was 3-0 to an impressive Slovenian side. Back out for the 2nd half the teams came and you could already tell Ireland we’re trying to put the pieces together, with Tyler Tolan, Abbie Larkin and Marissa Sheva coming off the bench to try and add some excitement to the team. Ireland started to create momentum in the half, with them being dominant in possession and shots on target, but those hopes were demolished by Nina Kazjba in the 82nd minute with a great strike to put the home side in the driving seat. And so the game finished 4-0 the Slovenia with Praznikar getting my MOTM award, but a special mention to a frustrated Denise O’sullivan who put in the graft for her country tonight, her work rate and determination pushed the Irish on throughout the game.

Ireland Captain Katie McCabe said after the game “it's completely unacceptable by our standards. The goals were completely avoidable. We’re trying a new system…we gave them too much space”, while Carla Ward took accountability for the loss, saying “the first half was horrible, that's on me. I’ve tried something different,”. Overall, a tough one to take for the Girls in Green, but a fantastic result for a hungry Slovenia team who go top of the group, the 2 teams face Turkey and Greece on the 4th of April in the next round of the UEFA Nations League.