Thursday’s friendlies saw single-goal successes for Germany and Jamaica, a 0-0 draw for Republic of Ireland and Wales, while Australia and South Korea won at the four-team Cup of Nations.
Republic of Ireland and Wales played the first of two games in Marbella but neither side could make the breakthrough.
Katie McCabe fired narrowly wide for Ireland after Leanne Kiernan’s run, while Marie Hourihan had to clear off the goal-line from Kayleigh Greening.
Jess Fishlock fired over the bar from 20 yards, a Megan Campbell long throw saw Louise Quinn flick the ball narrowly over the bar and approaching the interval, Angharad James hit a half volley which was stopped on the line by Heather Payne.
In the second half, Denise O’Sullivan played in Amber Barrett who shot narrowly wide under pressure from goalkeeper Claire Skinner.
Both sides had late chances to win it, with McCabe just missing the target and Natasha Harding denied by the Irish keeper.
“I thought it was a really intensive match with both sides going for the victory,” Ireland Head Coach Colin Bell told fai.ie
“We had to settle in the first-half and had some great aspects to our play, but I thought we dominated the second-half and should have won the game in the end. We created some great openings but couldn’t get the goal our play deserved.”
Republic of Ireland: Marie Hourihan, Megan Connolly, Louise Quinn, Megan Campbell (Claire O’Riordan 42), Heather Payne, Harriet Scott, Niamh Fahey, Tyler Toland, Denise O’Sullivan, Katie McCabe (C), Leanne Kiernan (Amber Barrett 58).
Wales: Claire Skinner, Gemma Evans, Sophie Ingle (C), Angharard James (Kylie Nolan 54), Kayleigh Green, Jessica Fishlock, Natasha Harding, Cori Williams (Rhiannon Roberts 71), Hayley Ladd, Ffion Morgan (Loren Dykes 37), Emma Jones (Grace Horrell 54).
Germany edge France
There was a crowd of around 18,000 in Laval for France’s friendly with Germany, which the visitors won by the only goal.
Lea Schüller got into the box to fire past Sarah Bouhaddi on 31 minutes, while Gaëtane Thiney had a chance to level just before the break.
Ji bags Cup of Nations brace
At the Cup of Nations in Sydney, hosts Australia beat New Zealand 2-0. Emily Gielnik struck just before the break and Hayley Raso got the second 16 minutes from time. Elise Kellond-Knight and Tameka Butt might have added to the score but were both denied by the crossbar.
In the same tournament, Chelsea’s Ji So-yun bagged a brace in the last quarter of the game as South Korea put five past Argentina. Moon Mi-ra, Son Hwa-yeon and Lee So-dam were the other scorers.
Marlo makes the difference
Jamaica were 1-0 winners over Chile in Kingston, despite being fifteen places behind their visitors in the rankings.
Marlo Sweatman’s 9th-minute goal proved sufficient for a Reggae Girlz victory.
