For years, Kyra Carusa has led the line with aplomb for Ireland, but their upcoming opponents may necessitate a change in her style.
The American-born striker has scored 10 goals in 32 appearances for Ireland since making her debut in 2020.
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Five of those came in the 2023 Nations League B campaign, but things could be very different in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers as Ireland return to League A to face France, the Netherlands and Poland.
They reached this stage by beating Belgium in a thrilling two-legged promotion playoff in October.
Carusa has always excelled at holding the ball up for teammates, but the onus was on her to do that more in October’s playoff as Ireland were forced into a more tactical approach; something Carusa expects to be repeated as Ireland progress through League A.
“The ability to be physical and bring people into the game, create the opportunity and be ruthless, we as a collective need to bring that,” Carusa told reporters at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
However, she believes Ireland’s previous experience in League A and at the 2023 World Cup will stand to them.
It’s a very familiar position for myself – being strong and being able to hold the ball up in those situations.
As well, a development from the last campaign for us as a team is knowing that teams will probably expect that and they’ll think there’s one side to us, but being able to also recognise that we have players that will pull the play is very important. Like the plays off of that or like the next level of the next steps in those plays are just as important.
We have people knowing and trusting that when you do your job, everyone else is going to do their job. That’s the biggest thing for us. It’s a very familiar position, I’d say, playing against the likes of the competition of Australia and the US. It’s going to be a very familiar position.
Carusa would go on to issue a rallying cry to her Ireland teammates to bring the same energy and impetus that defined October’s playoff win to the upcoming qualifying games.
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Kyra Carusa on Ireland v France
28 October 2025; Kyra Carusa of Republic of Ireland during the UEFA Women’s Nations League A/B promotion/relegation play-off second leg match between Belgium and Republic of Ireland at The King Power At Den Dreef Stadium in Leuven, Belgium. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Thursday’s press conference was almost concluded when a final question came to Kyra Carusa about what the key message would be in Ireland’s team meetings this week.
Carusa is one of the best talkers in Irish sport, and gave a detailed answer on what Ireland had learned from the two games against Belgium and how they could carry that into the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
I’d say that the key message is quite similar to what we worked on for Belgium: clarity and roles. Both separate in the sense of when we understand the non-negotiables, the no matter whats, the full trust and these are the jobs we need to do, the clarity in that, the clarity in our roles, we’re together.
It’s unbelievable. There are a few performances that really reflect that, but especially in those Belgium games: just understanding and trusting that our debrief on the opponent, our non-negotiables line to line, player to player, what we need to do, trusting that everyone is fulfilling that moment and fulfilling that role is when we can add a lot, like it’s when we can be at our best, is when we can have quality in our attack and just as much quality in our defending and transition and be able to produce out of that.
It really develops over a campaign and over games, that trust and understanding that what I know in and out of this team is what the person next to me knows and what the person coming on the pitch knows.
One player singled out by Carusa was Abbie Larkin, whose injury-time goal in Leuven (assisted by Carusa) secured the aggregate win for Ireland over Belgium.
Carusa suggests that the manner in which Larkin impacted the game off the bench epitomises the togetherness of the Ireland group.
An example of that is Abbie Larkin, going from the first game against Belgium, having not stepped on the field in the Aviva to going on to being the game-changing player in the game, scoring the goal in the second leg.
I mean that is just a full example of players being absolutely clear – and regardless of whether they start or come off the bench, or where they are, a role and understanding of what needs to be accomplished in that and being able to execute even in that kind of position. I think that’s been our heavy emphasis so far.
It has been an unusual few months for Carusa, whose time at San Diego Wave came to an abrupt end after the NWSL season concluded.
She has returned to her old club HB Koge in Denmark, where she spent three seasons between 2020 and 2023. However, she will spent the coming months on loan with the Kansas City Current back in the NWSL, properly getting (re)started with Koge over the summer.
“Any footballer wants to be in a position where they’re actively playing. And having the team invested in them too,” Carusa said of her departure from San Diego Wave.
“At the end of the season, it was a reflection of which direction myself and San Diego needed to move in. That’s professional football.
“When the opportunity presented itself [to sign with Kansas], I felt it was one I couldn’t pass up on.”
Ireland face France in their World Cup qualifying opener in Tallaght on Tuesday, March 3rd at 7:30pm.
Eoin Harrington reporting from Ireland camp at FAI HQ
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