Vera Pauw confident on Louise Quinn as Canada preparations ramp up

Vera Pauw says that Louise Quinn arriving in Perth in a boot was precautionary and that she expects the talismanic defender to be fit to face Canada on Wednesday.

Quinn put in commanding performance in Thursday's defeat to hosts Australia but arrived into the western city with a black eye, suffered in the game, as well as a stabilising boot on her left foot.

It leaves her in a race against time to be able to appear in a game which many view as being the battle for second place.

"Louise Quinn had a knock, and we need to see how that goes," the Ireland manager told RTÉ Sport.

"We are confident that she can play. Other than that everyone is fit and we're preparing for the next game.

"It's precautionary," she added of the ominous looking boot. "That's what, these days, the medics do to settle it down in the first 48 hours - to keep it calm.

"We're very hopeful that she can play."

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Reflecting on the narrow defeat to Australia, where only a penalty separated the sides, Pauw declared that there was "something we could build on" in the performance.

The other game in the group saw Canada, without one of their star players Jessie Fleming, and Nigeria draw nil-all which leaves a top two spot, and the last-16 place that goes with it, still very much in Ireland's hands.

"I've always said that Nigeria are the best team from Africa," Pauw added.

"The FIFA rankings (Nigeria are 40th) is just because they need to play within Africa. The result, I'm not so surprised. We were really hoping for that