IRELAND POTENTIALLY DRAWING Scotland in the 2023 World Cup play-off evoked fond memories for Vera Pauw.

Last month, the Girls In Green were pitted against the Scots or Austria as their bid to reach a first-ever major tournament hit new heights.

While Pauw refused to be drawn on which side she would prefer to face, she smiled down a video call: “The only thing is that if we play Scotland I just heard that we would play at Hampden Park and my office has been there for four years so that would be special.”

Her return has been granted, Pedro Martínez Losa’s side overcoming the higher-ranked Austrians in extra-time last week to set-up a Hampden reunion for Pauw [KO 8pm, live on RTÉ 2].

“That would make the circle round, it’s nice,” she beamed as Ireland’s opponents were confirmed, having managed the team from 1998 to 2004.

“I did my best,” Pauw began her post-match press conference yesterday when praised for her work here, before turning her focus to the positive progress since her departure.

“Well, I think it only went up, there hasn’t been a stop, it never went back. I have been very impressed with the programmes that have been set up. I’m very proud that the basic structures are still set up the way the were then.”

There was some recognition for her in Scotland’s own media obligations, an hours’ spin away in Edinburgh.

“I’ve never met her, but obviously know about her,” Caroline Weir, one of their star players, who plays her club football with Real Madrid, said.

The girls who have played for her speak highly about her. I know she had a massive impact on the Scottish women’s game. Obviously a lot of respect for her for that. She’s a good coach and her teams are always organised. I’d expect Ireland to be that tomorrow night definitely.”

Pauw went on to pay tribute to Sheila Begbie yesterday, former head of the Women’s FA, the pair combining their technical and policy expertise to form a “good team”. Pauw also had kind words for Begbie when writing in The Coaches Voice recently, reflecting on her time at the Scottish helm.

She and her husband, Bert van Lingen, moved to Scotland in 1998 when van Lingen and Dick Advocat took the Rangers job. 

Pauw was soon technical director and head coach of the women’s national team, an upward trajectory beginning for the game on these shores thereafter.

“Bert and I talk a lot about our time in Scotland,” the Ireland manager wrote in that article. “It was the warmest period of our lives in terms of the way people took care of us, the joy and the laughter that we got from everybody.

Where I’m from, you have to kick butts to get people going. In Scotland, it was more often that you had to put your foot on the brake. I used to call the players my Scottish terriers, because they would run through brick walls for you; when they caught their ‘prey’, they would never let go.

“And, away from the pitch, people were willing to explore the possibilities around the women’s game. That meant we could build things without barriers being put in the way.

“When I took on the Scotland job in 1998, the SFA had only just taken over the running of the women’s game. That’s why my role was both technical director and head coach – because when a sport is in development, you need the top level to help develop the grassroots. To build the foundation…”

“Myself and Sheila set up a four-year development plan, but after a year and a half we had to rewrite it – create a new plan,” she added. “Why? Because we had already ticked everything off. By the time I left in 2004, the number of female players in Scotland had exploded. It was something like six times the number it had been when I arrived.”

She took over her native Netherlands thereafter, where she led the team to the semi-finals at their first major tournament in Euro 2009. “Top place in the Uefa qualifying group has achieved promotion for Scotland to the top category of women’s football for the first time, and the team’s aim now is to qualify for the Championship Finals in 2005,” a report in The Irish Examiner from 3 August 2002 read.

“Scottish women’s football has achieved respect, to the extent that top players such as Julie Fleeting have been able to make their mark on the professional game abroad. Pauw’s resignation was not unexpected, as her husband Bert van Lingen has taken up a coaching post with the Dutch FA after his time at Rangers.”

The Irish Examiner. The Irish Examiner.

During Pauw’s time at the Scottish helm, they played Ireland five times: two 3-0 wins in European Championship qualifying, the first of those her first competitive game in charge — and in international management — in October 1999; and another victory in 2001 sandwiched between two defeats, 1-0 and then 4-1.

There are no shortage of other links between Ireland and Scotland: the connections with Glasgow City particularly strong, with Pauw’s former assistant coach Eileen Gleeson in charge there now and Claire Walsh and Aoife Colvill among the players present.

Many more have donned the orange shirt through the years, with others further afield in the Scottish Women’s Premier League. Seven players in the current Ireland squad either play or have played for Scottish clubs (Celtic: Claire O’Riordan, Keeva Keenan, Isibeal Atkinson. Glasgow City: Katie McCabe, Denise O’Sullivan, Niamh Farrelly. Hearts: Ciara Grant. Rangers: Ciara Grant.) 

The injured Ruesha Littlejohn hails from Scotland, but has played for Ireland since 2012, qualifying through her grandparents. Katie McCabe signed for Arsenal under current Scots manager Losa at the age of 20 in 2015.

There’s no shortage of links to the Celtic cousins, and no doubt, new ones will be formed tonight as both World Cup dreams come to a head.

“This is a very important step on our journey,” Losa said. “We believe that we are a World Cup team For me it is a dream. For all the group, it is what we want to achieve. But we know it is not easy. Hopefully we don’t miss this opportunity. We feel this is an incredible chance. We are prepared, we have a competitive squad and we are coming here in a good moment. We feel that we are definitely capable of doing it.”

“It would be massive,” Weir added. “Having been at these tournaments it makes you want it more. It was tough to take not being at the Euros.

“Seeing all the prep that went into it and I was at City where everyone was buzzing for the six months before it. It was great for the English players but you want to be part of it and I think we all have that drive to be at another tournament.”