Kyra Carusa has faith the Republic of Ireland will emerge from their first World Cup experience a stronger, more experienced team equipped to achieve more big things.
The Girls in Green cannot progress to the last 16 after losing their first two group games against Australia and Canada.
However, they're determined to go out on a high on Monday when they face a strong Nigeria side who are in with a real shout of reaching the knockout stage.
"You can't come out of a process like this, any of us, the staff, the fans, the country, you can’t come out of this, untouched," said California-born striker Carusa.
"It is imprinted on you for the rest of your lives, I swear. All of us are going to be here in two years and four years, and you will be sitting out here with all your phones and thinking about this moment.
"But we will all be quite different. And for the better and even the experience we gained in those first two games, Monday already feels like the start of another World Cup, you have already gained what you have in the last game.
"What an incredible opportunity! What an exciting thing, so I am excited about that, excited about this team’s future."
Carusa excelled in a strong first-half showing against the Canadians in Perth last Thursday. She gave Chelsea centre-half Kadeisha Buchanan a torrid time [Buchanan came off at half-time for Shelina Zadorsky] but couldn't embellish the display with a goal.
Ireland faded on the turnaround and ultimately fell to a heartbreaking defeat, but Carusa remains characteristically upbeat.
"Guys, I am feeling it," she said. "I know it is a lot of manifestation, being in the right place at the right time but I am feeling good about it. As a striker, when you are feeling it and feeling good about your game, it is hard to stop, so we will see. Stay tuned on Monday.
"The biggest thing is that we said that they were always going to be three games played in this tournament. Maybe more, but it was never going to be less. We look at this game like it is the start, like playing that first game in the World Cup, but with the experience of those two games behind us.
"And that is very exciting for us, because we know so much more and we have learned so much more and learned as a team of our abilities in so much more. We want to go into this game and get a positive result, because that is what we owe ourselves, that is what we owe our country, that is what we owe everything, the ones who came before us and led us to this opportunity to be in a World Cup.
"I look upon it as an incredibly exciting and I am really stoked to get out there and play that game."
Nigeria are the group's fourth seeds but they've shown more than enough at this tournament to suggest that's a bit of a fallacy.
They're ranked 40th in the world - Ireland are 22nd - which is also deceptive; because they don't get to play higher-ranked teams too regularly their rankings points are lower than they should be.
It's a big test for Ireland, and one Carusa is embracing.
"We have always discussed the variety in our group alone among each team presenting and being incredibly good at their niche characteristics," she added.
"It is to be expected. Nigeria are incredibly athletic, they punish people on the counter-attack, you saw the game against Australia.
"And it is a World Cup, anything can happen, any team can come out and perform on this world stage, but I would say watching their last two games, they are a team who want a result as well, as much as we do but seeing their athleticism and how much they can punish teams.
"We are going to prepare a bit more after the first two games and we also want to come out with the result, so there is no question, this will be a massive game."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Watch Republic of Ireland v Nigeria in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Monday at 11am, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on 2fm
