USA 1-0 Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland fell to a 1-0 friendly defeat against the USA in St Louis, Missouri in the early hours of Wednesday morning as a speculative Alana Cook effort settled another competitive contest.
The Girls in Green rued two defensive lapses last Saturday night when they were beaten 2-0 by the Americans in Austin.
They were left frustrated again by the concession of another avoidable goal as Cook's 43rd-minute punt into the box caught out the badly-positioned Courtney Brosnan.
Up to that point Ireland had looked relatively comfortable, stitching together some fluid attacks primarily through Kyra Carusa, Denise O'Sullivan, Heather Payne and the impressive Lucy Quinn.
However they tired on the turnaround, never really threatening their illustrious hosts until centre-back Louise Quinn was thrown up front late on to offer a physical presence.
The USA saw it out to make it two wins from two, but Ireland will certainly take positives from the double-header against the world's No 1-ranked side.
Beaten, yes, but definitely not overawed or overwhelmed. They next face Zambia at Tallaght Stadium on 22 June and then have another friendly two weeks later against France that will serve as a World Cup send-off.
Before Ireland had kicked off at the CityPark stadium, Australia - who they face in their World Cup opener on 20 July - ended England's 30-game unbeaten streak with a 2-0 friendly victory at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium.
The scale of the task is obvious, not least to manager Vera Pauw who has consistently talked up the importance of playing the highest ranked teams as often as possible.
The Dutchwoman firmly believes taking on the best accelerates improvement and there is plenty of evidence within her Irish team to support that theory.
They started confidently in St Louis, taking the game to a USA side that showed six changes to the starting XI last Saturday. That being said, they very nearly trailed after three minutes when Becky Sauerbrunn - who has 216 caps to her name and not a single goal - powered a header against the crossbar.
Katie McCabe stung the palms of Casey Murphy following a lovely Irish move involving O'Sullivan and Carusa, before Sophia Smith ballooned one over the bar at the other end from 15 yards out.
With Ireland offering occasional flashes of quality going forward, and the USA becoming frustrated by a well-organised visiting reaguard, the game sagged.
It was drifting towards half-time when Payne conceded a corner which was initially dealt with, O'Sullivan lashing a loose ball up the pitch.
Cook gathered it, took a touch and then booted it high into the box towards a few waiting team-mates. Brosnan had stepped up however, not anticipating the delivery, and the ball sailed over her head and into the net.
Ireland trailed at the break and would not exactly have been heartened to see Julie Ertz, Trinity Rodman and Ashley Hatch coming on at half-time.
The USA's immense strength in depth meant they could keep turning the screw and they went up a gear in the second period.
On 55 minutes, Ashley Sanchez almost latched onto a smart Ertz pass; soon after, Brosnan had to be sharp to deny Alyssa Thompson after brilliant work from Rodman.
Hatch's decent shot on the swivel was about as exciting as it got thereafter with both teams emptying their benches and the match descending into a scrappy affair.
Ireland did change tack in the last five minutes when Amber Barrett came on for Carusa and Louise Quinn rambled up front, and though there was a flurry of crosses into the USA box, an equaliser never really looked likely.
USA: Casey Murphy; Ashley Sanchez, Sofia Huerta, Becky Sauerbrunn (Capt), Kelley O'Hara (Casey Krueger ht), Lindsey Horan (Kristie Mewis 60), Sophia Smith (Trinity Rodman ht), Alex Morgan (Ashley Hatch ht), Alana Cook, Andi Sullivan (Julie Ertz ht), Alyssa Thompson
Republic of Ireland: Courtney Brosnan; Louise Quinn, Megan Connolly, Diane Caldwell (Hayley Nolan 58), Ruesha Littlejohn (Ciara Grant 58), Denise O'Sullivan, Katie McCabe (Capt), Heather Payne (Tara O'Hanlon 85), Lucy Quinn (Roma McLaughlin 69), Kyra Carusa (Amber Barrett 85), Marissa Sheva (Aine O’Gorman 69)
