Vera Pauw is Jack Charlton of Ireland women’s football.

Both favored a cautious tactical approach and bold choices. Both were transformative figures who helped the national team appeal to new audiences. Above all, both took a team with a history of near misses and brave defeats to new heights.

Pow is able to complete the analogy by emulating Charlton’s feat 33 years earlier. On 15 November 1989, Charlton beat Malta 2–0 to take Ireland to their first ever World Cup final. 3 years and 6 months since his first game charge.

Pow will be in charge for three years and one month when Ireland play Austria or Scotland on 11 October. On this day they beat Northern Ireland 3-0 at home, effectively securing their place in the 1990 final.

Friday’s draw leaves Ireland facing a very difficult task as they are likely to go to Austria, who have reached the quarter-finals of the recent European Championship.

However, there may be gaps in the light. Last October, Austria revealed his Achilles heel away from home when an injury-time goal drew Northern Ireland 2–2. Now they have to negotiate an away tie with a Scottish team playing in a similar style.

A win in Scotland leaves Ireland with a much more manageable prospect, a local derby between teams of players who know each other well at club level. To create Gary Mackay, you basically need the entire Scottish team.

All ride on October 11th. A strong Belgian who needs to beat Portugal in the first round could beat Iceland at home and Ireland would automatically qualify by winning that night. Even if they were forced into the final qualifiers in February, they would be the strongest team there.

When Pau took over as manager in September 2019, no one expected the final to be so intriguingly close. Resigned manager Colin Bell has accused the FAI of not taking the women’s game seriously. The association was rumored to be going in-house for its next appointment.

A downgrade of the manager’s job appeared imminent, the kind that led to the rugby team’s precipitous decline. Did. His FAI, with memories of the players’ strike two years ago, took the hint and appointed Pau.

Charlton was not the first choice for the 1986 FAI. He came to Newcastle after his thirteen months of trouble at United. Pau returned to Dublin after a ten-month unsuccessful run in the United States with the Houston Dash, in contrast to the day she led the Netherlands to the semi-finals of Euro 2009.

She inherited a team that finished 3rd in the 2019 World Cup qualifiers and 4th in the 2017 European Championships. Charlton took over as well, having finished 3rd and 4th in the most recent qualifying bids.

Charlton almost immediately rebelled against parts of the Irish media and was not helped in this regard by the blunt, no-nonsense approach typical of his Geordie background.

Pau is from Amsterdam. The Dutch are so keen on direct conversation that they even have the phrase Bespreekbaarheid. When Pow dealt with the controversy surrounding Tyler Toland’s failure to select Tyler Toland, it was a lot of evidence when he observed that the midfielder was not doing much at club level.

Poe’s preferred style of play, like Charlton’s, is sometimes criticized for failing to unleash stellar football.

At half-time against Finland, the RTÉ committee condemned what they saw as being overly cautious about playing the back five in a must-win home tie. However, Pow proved right when Ireland scored the only goal in the second half.

The away victory over Slovakia was a terrifying spectacle, but the win secured Ireland a place in the play-offs in the second round. Poe’s method may not be as aesthetically appealing as Charlton’s, but it turned a team with a habit of losing close games into a team with a habit of winning close games.

A no-nonsense approach is favored by fans. Charlton convinced a horde of people in his GAA who had only peripheral interest in the National Soccer side that it was their team too. Pau also broadened her team’s appeal and brought it into the national sports mainstream.

Ireland’s style is unlikely to change in the playoffs. But perhaps there may be some surprises regarding personnel. Charlton, with Paul McGrath switching to midfield, Mick McCarthy favoring Dave O’Leary on defense, and Phil Babb, Gary Kelly and Tommy Coyne breaking into the 1994 World Cup side.

Pau also likes to gamble. Brought in Savannah McCarthy, Jamie Finn and Chloe Moustaki from the League of Ireland, debuted Jess Jiu, Ellen Molloy and Abby Larkin as teenagers, and injured Megan Campbell for three years gave their first competitive start against Finland in .

She’s also keen on playing on the rules of her ancestry, with Lily Ugg scoring against Finland and Lucy playing a key role in last year’s turning point in her team’s fortunes against Australia. – Acquired Quinn.

Just as Charlton continued to rely on Mick McCarthy at the center of defense and was equally rewarded, the manager has continued to rely on goals from the much-criticized Courtney Brosnan. Work fell on Heather Payne. Heather Payne is a striker tasked with chasing a lost cause and holding onto the ball with few chances to score.

A lack of offensive punching has been Ireland’s weakness against quality opponents, but perhaps the solution is at hand. Kudos to Leanne Kiernan for showing again what it looks like.

Keenan’s continued omission was Poe’s most questionable decision, but perhaps the manager would show her trust when it mattered most. would be an overlooked star at first. Isn’t that what happened to Dave O’Leary?

Tuchel’s firing shows the chasm between great clubs and rich man’s toys

The sacking of Thomas Tuchel is not only the stupidest sacking in Premier League history, but also the most ungrateful.

Tuchel could have flown the ship as Roman Abramovich plunged the club into chaos following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I took it and acted.

It was extremely difficult to maintain third place when the survival of the club was in jeopardy at one point. Only the penalty shootout lottery separated Chelsea and Liverpool in two cup finals, and the spectacular Champions League quarter-final loss to Real Madrid was put into context when the Spanish side won the competition. was given.

Last month Real lost 2-1 at home to Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League. Real continued to put their trust in Carlo Ancelotti, and he was richly rewarded.

Chelsea have sacked the manager who upset the Champions League final just over a year ago with a similar defeat to Zagreb. The difference between these decisions is the difference between a great club and a rich man’s toy.

The court brought contempt largely upon itself

Margaret Court’s lament about not receiving enough respect raises the question of whether beliefs outside the court should undermine performance in court.

Tennis has treated the great Australian with a record of 24 Grand Slam titles that Serena Williams has proven unable to emulate as something to be ashamed of. brought to

The problem is not that she holds bigoted beliefs about homosexuality, but that she has brought those views to the sports arena. No, but it is certainly relevant to criticize gay athletes for being a negative influence on young people.

A court may feel obligated to express these beliefs as an evangelical Christian, but she can hardly expect them to provoke a reaction.

Want to see a tennis legend get really unfair? Witness the online criticism of non-confrontational Chris Evert, who famously “has issues with black players.” The 18-time Grand Slam winner, who works as an analyst for ESPN, apparently didn’t praise Coco Gauff enough for her US Open quarterfinal loss to Caroline Garcia in straight sets.

Ebert, who has battled ovarian cancer, deserves better than this shit.