McCabe gets green light to link up with Ireland earlier

Katie McCabe has been given the green light to link up with the Republic of Ireland before their friendly against Zambia after a long-running clubs-v-countries dispute reached a resolution.

McCabe was one of several high-profile names impacted by the European Club Association's directive that players should only be released for international duty from 23 June - 24 hours after the Girls in Green take on the Zambians.

Vera Pauw named the Arsenal star in her 31-player World Cup training camp on Friday but admitted she was unsure when exactly McCabe would be able to link up.

Last week England boss Sarina Wiegman had suggested that she would pull the plug on a 1 July friendly against Portugal if her players were not permitted to come into international camp on 19 June.

Wiegman said her charges needed adequate time to prepare for that game and threatened to cancel the fixture if they didn't get it.

That would have left the reigning European champions with just one World Cup warm-up match: a behind-closed-doors game against Canada in Australia on 14 July.

However, on Friday evening, a compromise was reached with Women's Super League clubs, who gave clearance - reportedly with some reluctance - to the English FA to bring players into camp on 19 June.

It also allows McCabe to join the Ireland squad three days before they face Zambia at Tallaght Stadium, although there's still no guarantee she will play as Pauw carefully manages her players' work load.

"Everything is related to the health and safety of the players," she said.

"The plan is to not play her. But we need to see how she comes in of course. Katie is Katie. With Katie you never know. We train with live heart rate monitors, and it’s related to how fast she recovers from explosive