France women beat the Republic of Ireland 1-0 yesterday in a Euro 2025 Group A qualifier at Stade Saint-Symphorien. Many soccer fans had predicted an Ireland win or draw. However, Courtney Brosnan’ Ireland’s goalkeeper, conceded once causing Ireland to lose the game. Still, she agreed with Eileen Gleeson, Ireland’s manager, that they would have had a draw.
‘Ireland Had Many Chances,’ Courtney Brosnan Admits
Leanne Kiernan took a wide shot instead of passing the ball to Katie McCabe who was in the box. Gleeson lamented, “These are the decisions. At the moment Katie is there and potentially she plays her in and we’re 1-1. But yeah, we’ll be looking at that and reviewing it. When these moments happen you can be shouting as much as you want from the sideline, but she doesn’t pick it out.”
Courtney Brosnan revealed Ireland has numerous scoring chances. She made numerous saves, denying France a goal up to the 83rd minute. The goalkeeper said, “France is one of the best teams in the world but we pushed at the end and had some chances. To concede so early is frustrating but we responded well. We need to bring the same energy against another tough side in England.
We are doing a better job creating more chances, you can see the creativity in our play, and we pushed for some goals at the end. The defense needs to keep clean sheets and the offense try to score some goals, and that’s what we are trying to do as a team. It’s great that we were able to keep it at 1-0 to push at the end. We could have got something from the game but these things sometimes happen in football.”
Courtney Brosnan Wastes Time
The referee booked Brosnan for time wastage as the crowd jeered at her for her kick-outs in the first half. The player later went down and got treatment as Gleeson made a tactical review of her squad. Courtney Brosnan defended her antics saying, “I was trying to tell the referee that I don’t think you can be booked for time wasting if you’re losing. I said I was trying my best to continue kicking long but whatever, she told me to hurry it along and I tried my best.
“They had a great crowd here. I tried not to pay too much attention and focus on the game plan. Do what we can to win the game.“Megan Campbell coming on with the long throws causes a bit of chaos, Leanne had a good chance at the end, I thought it might have been sneaking in the back post but my angle was bad.”
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Eileen Gleeson Defends Her Starting XI
Gleeson defended her selections in Ireland’s starting XI, adding Aoife Mannion, Emily Murphy, and Anna Patten. Nevertheless, she hooked Murphy and switched Mannion from her initial position. The manager stated, “No, this is what we talked about, being adaptable. We had to try and cover as much width on the pitch with how we occupied the space and we felt the five, the four, we thought we might get pulled apart with three in the middle and that would mean more work for us.
So we stretched it out with the four and that’s how we tried to secure it and stay safe. I didn’t change the structure, just adapting positions. We got Aoife onto her right foot and she was solid. We are using the squad that we have available to us and the players and the qualities that are there. That’s what we chose tonight.”
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