Republic of Ireland boss Vera Pauw said her players leave the World Cup as “world stars” as they ended their debut with a point against Nigeria.
The Republic had already been eliminated from Group B following defeats by Australia and Canada.
After a goalless draw with Nigeria, Pauw said she was “really proud”.
“These players came into the tournament as very good players, they come out of the tournament as world stars,” she said.
In their first-ever major tournament, the Republic fell to a 1-0 loss to co-hosts Australia in Sydney before a 2-1 defeat by Canada in Perth.
They were unable to sign off their World Cup adventure with a first win, but Pauw was upbeat after watching her side push three high-quality teams all the way.
“I think we can be really proud,” added Pauw, who faces an uncertain future as Republic manager with her contract set to expire after the tournament.
“Three top-10 nations, I’ve said it before I think Nigeria are a top-10 nation, and we’ve played equal games against them. We lost by a penalty [to Australia] an own-goal [to Canada] and now a draw. It is amazing.”
Pauw, who also said guiding the Irish to their first-ever World Cup point was a “fantastic feeling”, added: “It will change their lives. Not only in the experience that they’ve had but they will get other contracts, get more opportunities and the next generation can step in so it’s amazing.”
‘Why would I not be at the homecoming?’
Pauw addressed both her future and her exchange with captain Katie McCabe in her post-match news conference
While Pauw was positive about her team’s performance, the build-up to the game was overshadowed by the Dutchwoman saying she and the players deserved clarity over her future.
But when asked if the Nigeria game felt like her last, Pauw said: “I don’t feel this is my last game because we are going home from a World Cup.
“Why would I not be at the homecoming? I go back with my team. Otherwise I would have stayed here and enjoyed the World Cup.”
Pauw also explained her decision not to consider Katie McCabe’s request for “fresh legs” in the second half.
“Why would we change? If Katie McCabe says that she wants a change that doesn’t mean [we change]. She’s not the coach.
“Everybody was doing so well. I said ‘what do you want Katie, take our best player off?’
“A player is allowed to be emotional and say that but I step back to analyse and we make changes that are necessary.
“A player can always ask but as a coach it’s not a refusal - as a coach you make decisions on what is necessary. A player can say anything to the coach, at least to me.”
When asked about the nature of the request from McCabe - who later posted an emoji with a zipped mouthexternal-link on Twitter - Pauw said: “That she wanted fresh legs - on her side.
“Everybody was doing so well. Sinead Farrelly was arguably the best player on the pitch at that moment, so I was not prepared to take the best player off.”
‘Not the last time you’ll see Ireland here’
The draw in Brisbane, coupled with Australia’s win over Canada, meant Nigeria progressed in second place in Group B at the expense of the Canadians.
In a low-key match in Brisbane, the Super Falcons came closest to scoring when Republic keeper Courtney Brosnan produced a stunning save to push Uchenna Kanu’s header on to the crossbar.
Asked how it felt to go home having secured Ireland’s first point and clean sheet in the World Cup, goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan said: “I said before we were disappointed not to make it out of the group.
“We felt we deserved something from the tournament so it’s great to get a point on the board.
“Obviously we wanted three but to keep a clean sheet is amazing, it’s a testament to this team, we worked to the very end and we wanted to show that we deserved to be here and we did show that today.”
Brosnan added: “The disappointment shows that we deserve to be here. We’re moving on but it’s not the last time you’ll see Ireland here.”
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