Republic of Ireland boss Vera Pauw said she will not put any unnecessary pressure on the quartet of Irish-eligible players she invited into the camp this week to declare for the Girls in Green.
Ireland play friendlies against Denmark on Thursday and Belgium on Sunday and Pauw has brought in Florence Gamby of London Bees, Lily Agg from London City Lionesses and Emily Murphy of Chelsea but currently on loan at Birmingham.
Glasgow City's Aoife Colville was due to join up also but withdrew today. Colville has said in the past that she dreamed of playing for Australia while Murphy has played for England at youth level.
Pauw is very conscious of becoming embroiled in another Declan Rice or Jack Grealish scenario while also being sensitive about denying Irish-born players their chance in the squad. Players are not tied to a country until they represent them in a competitive game; and that does not include friendlies.
"It's all players who are eligible to play for Ireland, but some need to still make a choice," she told RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue.
"It's a shame that Aoife Colville picked up an injury yesterday she could not come in. But Emily Murphy, she could play for England and for us. Florence Gamby has already an Irish passport, and Lilly Agg is in fact in the process of getting citizenship.
"I've had talks with them. The way that I approach it is not like we try to convince your brain, but it is your choice. It's her choice. She must choose for Ireland. And what I said there is like Emily Murphy, she has not made a choice yet.
'They must be ready for the choice' - Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw invites Irish-eligible players to train #RTESoccer #RTESport pic.twitter.com/wM9yuDnyrp
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) April 5, 2021
"The reason why I bring her in now is because it's a friendly and you can only choose an environment if you know that environment.
"So that is the reason why we bring her in now. She's a huge talent, and she expresses to us that she's really hesitating. Her whole family is from here, her mum and dad, her whole family wants her also to play for Ireland.
"But indeed she can play for England also and I keep that completely open. I let her experience it, but the moment they choose, they must be ready for the choice, and it's not go for a trial and then, then going backwards. They have to choose for Ireland."
Pauw is leading Ireland into the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification campaign after signing a new two-year contract with the FAI in February. Having narrowly missed out on clinching a play-off spot for the 2022 UEFA Women's European Championships before Christmas, the Dutch coach needed time before making her decision to stay on.
"Well, as I said back then I had to go home and discuss it with my husband and feel what is right, but I really felt deep down inside that I wasn't finished with this squad," she added.
"We were just starting, that's what I feel, we were just on the start of a journey, and then stepping out didn't feel right.
"I discussed it with the FAI, with the core group of players and everybody expressed that they felt the same thing, that we belong to each other still.
"The support that I got also from fans and also from the press was so overwhelming because we did not qualify, but everybody was so supportive. And, yeah both my husband and I said, you can't you just can't step out. So I'm very happy."
Ireland paid a heavy price for costly errors against Ukraine and Greece in their Euros campaign. Late goals conceded and individual mistakes ultimately ruined their qualification ambitions and Pauw revealed that she's talked to Women's National League clubs about how players can find the extra edge required to lift their game a vital extra few per cent.
"What we discussed with the clubs and what we made happen is that they can train with boys at least once or twice a week," she said.
"They do get that pressure, that experience internationally.
"I'm absolutely convinced because this happened the same with all the other teams that are brought up to the highest level that training with boys is actually the only solution to it, because you get the pressure, you need to solve football situations with somebody who's on you constantly who is faster, stronger, and the best players of the league do not get that in the league of course because otherwise they wouldn't have been the best players.
"So, that is the only solution. It’s cheap, it's reasonable, and we can do it.
"The only thing that stopped us from doing earlier was the insurance issue because players had to be insured, of course, while training with the boys.
"We've solved that. We've got a list now insured by the FAI to train with boys. So that is what we do, the clubs are training more already, that is fantastic.
"They told me that they went from two to three sessions up to four sessions in a week. So more training, adding some higher pressure, that should make the difference."
The draw for the 2023 World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand, will be made at the end of this month.
"What I hope is that we get countries that we can play against and have a real chance, because then if we have a real chance then I'm sure that we will we will make it," stressed Pauw.
"This team is so determined. And this team is developing the qualities so much and it's becoming clear what we need and what we need to add and how and how to approach things that even without having activities we have performed every game better.
"I expect that that will keep growing."
