Vera Pauw is keen to stick around as Republic of Ireland manager but insisted she's letting others sort out the finer details of a contract extension as she focuses completely on the upcoming World Cup.
Earlier this month she indicated that talks had started between herself and the FAI, admitting she was hoping to get things signed off before heading to Australia for the tournament, which begins on 20 July.
Pauw, whose current deal expires later this summer, is coming up on the four-year anniversary of her appointment, with the UEFA Nations League and Euro 2025 qualification campaigns to look forward to, as well as a first ever game at the Aviva Stadium. The Republic of Ireland will play Northern Ireland at the Lansdowne Road venue in September.
Speaking to the media ahead of Thursday night's friendly against Zambia, she said: "For now I'm just busy with the World Cup. We need to be ready on the 20th of July. That needs my full, full attention.
"We have our plans in between the games and we’ll see how far we come. Let me be clear, I’m very happy in Ireland. Everybody can see that. Everybody feels that. I want to stay. But I’m not part of that process.
"[Her consultant] Ciaran Medlar is talking. I’m not involved in that. I do talk of course about the content with management, like I always do, but he takes care of that."
"The fact that this is coming up gives me sleepless nights."
Pauw will name her 23-player squad for the World Cup tomorrow week. The friendly against Zambia provides several players with one last chance to force their way into her plans, with the manager admitting the process of whittling down the current 31-player panel is proving to be desperately difficult.
When asked how she plans to inform the unlucky few who will miss out on selection, she replied: "Email? No. Text message? No. The first group I had to call, unfortunately, because physically I couldn't go there, but this will be face-to-face.
"It has been written a lot because I have said something about it, and it is something that I am really nervous about. I think that is all I should say about it, because it is for them so much worse than it is for me. The fact that this is coming up gives me sleepless nights."
Pauw paid tribute to her back-room staff as she confirmed all her players had come through the last ten days without suffering any injuries. She had been at pains to highlight how important it was to mange each indivudal's work loads as they integrated into the camp having had time off after the end of the club season in England.
The big concern is Aoife Mannion. The Manchester United defender suffered a knee injury in training a month ago and remains a real doubt.
"Aoife is in her return to play," Pauw added. "She is in a brace, as we know. That will go off on Monday and then we have to take a decision.
"Everything has been going according to plan, but it's really, really tight. We will see on Monday, we will give more updates and next week with the squad announcement we will know for sure whether we will take a chance or not.
"I am proud of the fact that we do not have [any other] injuries, because we have players six weeks out of their league, we have players two weeks out of their league, we have players coming straight from their league, we have players coming back from injury and having their first minutes on the pitch, we have a player getting married and coming in [Diane Caldwell], we have a player who was not allowed by her club to come in and only came in on Monday [Katie McCabe].
"So all those different backgrounds and the players are now so used to how we deal with that. But the fact that they buy in completely, I am so proud.
"I think there is a huge balance in our squad, with a lot of quality, with so many people, players who buy in completely. That is the secret of how we really feel we work together. That’s what I get from them and what they get from us. Togetherness in each and every task is what has brought us this far. If it is good enough on July 20 we will see but it’s going really, really well."
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