THE REPUBLIC OF Ireland women’s national football team will face world champions USA in a glamour double-header of international friendlies Stateside in April as their World Cup preparations continue.

As first reported by The Irish Examiner, Vera Pauw’s side will do battle with the holders and the number one-ranked side twice in three days in April.

North Carolina Courage star Denise O’Sullivan is set to earn her 100th cap when the sides meet in Austin, Texas on 8 April, before St Louis, Missouri hosts the rematch on 11 April.

It’s understood that official confirmation will follow from the FAI tomorrow, completing Ireland’s warm-up schedule along with the Tallaght Stadium send-off games against Zambia and France on 22 June and 6 July respectively.

Ireland fell to a 3-0 defeat to USA in the Rose Bowl shortly after they won the 2019 World Cup. Vlatko Andonovski’s side will be joined by the Netherlands, Vietnam and Portugal in Group E as they defend their crown at this summer’s tournament.

Ireland’s 2023 preparations officially kicked off with a 0-0 draw against China PR in Spain this afternoon.

Debutant Aoife Mannion was among the brightest sparks at Estadio Nuevo Mirador, Cadiz, where Ireland saw a second-half goal controversially chalked off. Louise Quinn was named Player of the Match after a typically-commanding display, as Ireland tried and tested a slightly different approach.

With their defensive structure nailed down — they’ve earned seven clean sheets in-a-row, eight in their last nine competitive games, having not conceded since the 1-1 draw with Sweden in Gothenburg last April — there was a renewed focus on their attacking game plan.

That largely failed to fire, as creative struggles continued in the final third, but they did look to play out from the back and looked more confident on the ball for the most part.

“I hope you see that we have been trying,” Pauw told the travelling Irish media afterwards. “The idea was that we were building up.

“I don’t use the word little much, but a little earlier occupation of the pitch, we wanted to occupy in the pockets with angles. A little bit higher pace of passing, to give each other time. A little bit more alert anticipation to what is happening, that can bring us higher up the pitch and creating chances.

“But this is the Asian champions — if you start playing out, you have to dare to be good. What we said in the team meeting is that we dare to be excellent, and we knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but this is the first time that we could emphasise our attacking play in the team meeting every single day and not concentrate on our defensive duties. And the fact that while doing that, we kept again a clean sheet, that is a huge compliment.”

“We all wanted to play out, we all want to be Spain,” she added. “But you need to grow to it, it is step by step. If you put on pants too big a size, they fall down. If you jump to a level that you are not on yet, it won’t go right. And that is not what we want.

“We are growing gradually, step by step so we control the process and that is achievable what we are asking.”