{"id":654141,"date":"2026-10-14T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/654141\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T05:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:00:13","slug":"ireland-boss-carla-ward-issues-world-cup-rallying-cry-as-aviva-stadium-details-are-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/654141\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland boss Carla Ward issues World Cup rallying cry as Aviva Stadium details are confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The date has been set for Ireland\u2019s World Cup play-off decider against Poland.<\/p>\n

Ireland’s Katie McCabe is congratulated by Carla Ward after the play-off win against Kazakhstan(Image: INPHO\/Ryan Byrne)<\/p>\n

Carla Ward has called on fans to fill the Aviva Stadium in December when Ireland take on Poland for a place at next summer\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

The Girls in Green<\/a> cruised into the play-off deciders when they put four more goals past Kazakhstan to wrap up a 12-0 aggregate lead.<\/p>\n

Poland had to work much harder to overturn a 1-0 first-leg defeat and see off Belgium on penalties in Gdansk.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s set to be the venue for the first-leg on December 1, with the decisive second-leg being staged at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday December 5 at 5pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s fill the Aviva Stadium,\u201d Ward<\/a> declared after Tuesday night\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll try and sell the Aviva out, that\u2019s got to be the aim. This group of players, we are onto something.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can get the Aviva sold out and we can get everybody supporting what has been a group that really deserves following, we\u2019ll be in a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skipper Katie McCabe echoed her manager\u2019s words by calling for no empty seats on December 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, what\u2019s most important right now is being in the best position to qualify for a World Cup<\/a>, and these girls know what it takes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we\u2019ve had some highs and lows over the years, our last one, the defeat to Wales (in the Euro 2025 play-offs).<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s going to be really important that we stick together going into December.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there was ever a game to come to this year, it\u2019s this one. Fifth of December, kick off is five o\u2019clock, bring everyone, all the kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fantastic night hopefully and we\u2019ll give absolutely everything we can to get over the line and bring this country to another World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

She paid tribute to Ireland\u2019s players as 10 different goalscorers put 12 goals past Kazakhstan over two games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the team and how we stuck together and got the job done,\u201d said McCabe, who was suspended for the first-leg and who came back in and scored last night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put ourselves in a fantastic position, two games and we go to Brazil. But full focus for the next six weeks. We need to lock in and be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a World Cup place at stake, so we need to be giving it everything. It\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cork native Denise O\u2019Sullivan rounded off the rout with Ireland\u2019s fourth goal last night at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh.<\/p>\n

She was named man of the match and she said: \u201cIt’s always special to play here in Cork, it’s where I grew up, it’s where the people supported me through my whole career, and it’s how I got to where I am.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a different game tonight, Kazakhstan did really well, they probably learned from the other night, they sat back, they were seven deep at times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt posed a different challenge for us, but we got the job done.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoland are a good side, they have a world class striker [Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor], but we have great players, we’re up for the challenge, we’ll be fully ready in six weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The date has been set for Ireland\u2019s World Cup play-off decider against Poland. Ireland’s Katie McCabe is congratulated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1399,18999,150694,61,60,19002,43,57217,57420],"class_list":["post-654141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-aviva-stadium","tag-carla-ward","tag-fifa-womens-world-cup","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-katie-mccabe","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-national-football-team","tag-republic-of-ireland-womens-football-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654141","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=654141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}