‘Players were begging to come off’ – Ward on Ohio heat

Due to the heat in Ohio during their 4-0 friendly defeat against the United States, Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward claimed that she had players “begging to come off.”

The Republic struggled with the heat even though the TQL Stadium had 30C in the first half of the game.

Ward made just four changes because the Republic lost a lot of regular starters, compared to Emma Hayes’ completely different starting eleven from the first friendly between these two teams four days ago.

She claimed that in order to safeguard her players’ health, she was forced to make additional adjustments during the game.

“We had players asking to come off on 22 minutes, but we were unable to do that,” she told RTE, and then three more forced changes came after half-time due to players’ physical decline and some unwellness.

“We couldn’t do anything about it because the players were almost begging to come off in the second half.”

Ward was asked if the Republic’s decision to play two end-of-season friendlies in the USA would help them given the concerns over the conditions, the heavy nature of both defeats, and the exhausted squad. The Republic will now face Belgium in the Nations League play-off in October.

The former Aston Villa manager resolutely believed that her under-strengthened squad had gained valuable lessons from the camp and the two matches against the world’s top-ranked team.

We have examined two different playing styles and ways of playing, added a few more layers to what we are trying to accomplish, and it has been a really positive camp overall, she continued.

These two defeats are obviously hurtful, but there must be some truth to this.