'No fear' for Ireland as Pauw plots play-off plan

Vera Pauw believes that Ireland have been handed a very tough draw in the World Cup play-offs, however, the Republic of Ireland manager insists that her team have no fear travelling to either Austria or Scotland.

The Irish team finished their group campaign in second place behind top seeds Sweden, however, they managed to secure a bye through the first play-off round as a result of their top-three seeding among the nine runners-up.

As a result, Scotland and Austria will go head to head for a place in the second round, where the winners will meet Pauw's Ireland to remain in contention to qualify for the 2023 World Cup, which is being played in Australia and New Zealand.

A victory for Ireland in that fixture could result in automatic qualification, depending on results elsewhere – Switzerland and Iceland are currently the top two sides that will qualify with a second round victory – otherwise, Pauw’s side would move into the final stages, the inter-confederation play-offs.

But for now, Pauw’s focus is maintaining her initial goal of qualifying for the tournament, which means looking no further than the play-off, which is set to take place on Tuesday, 11 October.

"It's a very tough draw," said Pauw, speaking to RTÉ Sport following the confirmation of the play-off fixtures. "Both Scotland and Austria are really good teams.

"Austria in the Euros impressed me hugely. I have done one of their games for RTE, they are well organised, physically strong, they have a few extremely talented players, a strong striker and solid defence, if they get through it will be very, very difficult.

"Scotland, we all know how much experience they have, how dynamic they play, with players like Kim Little. We have huge respect for them. It could have been