Ireland boss, Vera Pauw, has praised her players for ensuring that her World Cup build-up will not be dogged by the bonus payment chaos inflicting Group B rivals Nigeria, as well as England.
Ireland’s players will each receive at least €27,000 from a FIFA prize money pot and they have already concluded negotiations on a separate deal involving a fraction of that amount from the FAI.
Nigeria had threatened a boycott as they deal with a pay dispute, while England were also holding out for monies far in advance of the FIFA bonus.
“We’ve been reading about that,” said Irish boss Vera Pauw.
“The moment that FIFA came out has been very good. And the talks here have been good, but I’m not part of that at all.
“Some management has taken part in that with the representation of the players and from what I understand everything is okay and fine, so well done to everybody.”
She doesn’t expect Nigeria to be deterred despite their current turmoil, with their coach also coming under fire from some of the players.
“They are our third game so they’ll be in full swing and I don’t think it affects them. I’ve coached in South Africa and, these issues are quite common.
“It doesn’t influence the players on the pitch at all. They are so used to these issues that they have to fight for themselves. So well done to them I will say.
“I don’t think when they go on the pitch, they will be influenced by that. Especially not the professionals from England, this is part of their daily life. They don’t want it but I don’t think it will influence them.”
Ireland held an open session in Meakin Park, Brisbane, yesterday after FIFA upgraded their training ground HQ after deeming the original venue, Goodwin Park, to fall short of World Cup demands.
Katie McCabe came through the session unscathed despite her failure to finish last week’s friendly against France in Tallaght Stadium.