Poland\u2019s manager insists she wouldn\u2019t entertain Ireland\u2019s ploy of narrowing the pitch against the better nations because she advocates for \u201ccertain standards\u201d.<\/p>\n
For last month\u2019s visit of France to Tallaght, Ireland boss Carla Ward ordered the width of the Tallaght surface to be trimmed to meet minimum Fifa pitch-dimensions rules.<\/p>\n
This was designed to reduce space for the effervescent French wingers, chosen with the purpose of generating a \u2018one per cent\u2019 advantage.<\/p>\n
Ward\u2019s plan of action worked for a while as they sped ahead before the top seeds in the World Cup qualifying group overturned the opener to claim a late 2-1 victory.<\/p>\n
Ireland will have no influence over the pitch size on Tuesday at the 41,000-capacity Polsat Plus Arena, the Gda\u0144sk scene of Ireland\u2019s 4-0 hiding by Spain at the 2012 men\u2019s Euros.<\/p>\n
The nations meet again on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium, leaving Ireland with a concluding pair of qualifiers against the Netherlands at Pairc U\u00ed Chaoimh on June 5 before travelling to Grenoble in France for the final match three days later.<\/p>\n
How results unravel this week will determine whether Ireland or Poland get an easier pathway through the playoffs to the World Cup in Brazil next summer but the Polish boss seemed to take a dim view of Ward\u2019s meddling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it was up to me, I\u2019d like dimensions of the pitch being subjected to the same standards,\u201d said Nina Patalon, who led the Poles to their first ever Euros last summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need certain standards so I don\u2019t like changes to dimensions. If we\u2019re running in a 100 metre race, it shouldn\u2019t be a 90 metre race.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, there is freedom here to do it but my attitude is that teams should have certain standards because it\u2019s a level playing field.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0When it was put to Patalon that the bald patches on their pitch might stifle free-flowing football, she again returned to the France game in Dublin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is less important than a narrow pitch because it won\u2019t affect the game,\u201d she pointedly said.<\/p>\n
Denise O\u2019Sullivan returns from a knee injury to earn her 130th cap in midfield, while Katie McCabe\u2019s bandaged hand won\u2019t prevent her spearheading Ireland\u2019s charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poland\u2019s manager insists she wouldn\u2019t entertain Ireland\u2019s ploy of narrowing the pitch against the better nations because she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2957,61,60,43,18998],"class_list":{"0":"post-396963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-fifa-world-cup","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-republic-of-ireland-wnt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}