Nations League: Slovenia 4 (Prasnikar 3, 28, Kramzar 34, Kajzba 82) Republic of Ireland 0
Carla Ward left a blossoming career as Aston Villa manager for the more manageable work-life balance offered by the international game. The new Republic of Ireland head coach and her players must now wait until April, and the Nations League fixtures against Greece in Crete and Tallaght, to atone for this startling drop in standards.
Slovenia, despite being ranked 14 places below Ireland in the world rankings, had secured all three points by half-time after two goals from Lara Prasnikar and a third by Zara Kramzar.
Nina Kajzba scored a fourth with a curling, late strike after Špela Kolbl outfought Ireland captain Katie McCabe to the ball.
“The first half was horrible,” said Ward. “That’s on me. I’ve tried something different, I’ve tried to get us in positions to create more. It has not paid off.
“But it is a huge learning curve at the minute; I am asking them to do new things. It is my job to get that right. I think it is important that I take the pressure away from the players. Yes, they go out there, but I give them the message.”
In only her second match in charge, Ward reacted to Friday’s error-strewn 1-0 win over Turkey by reshuffling her options. Nothing worked as the “hangover” Ward highlighted from failure to reach Euro 2025 has yet to clear.
The team was disrupted by Megan Campbell’s long-running battle with injuries recurring during the warm-up. Megan Connolly came in for her 60th cap. It was the Lazio defender’s first start since the Sweden game in June 2024 after being out of favour under the previous manager Eileen Gleeson.
Oddly, Caitlin Hayes, a mainstay under Gleeson, was not considered as a backup by Ward. The Brighton defender’s aerial prowess was sorely missed at the Bonifika Stadium in Koper.
That was not the only change. Aoife Mannion switched from right to left back as McCabe pushed into a central role that seemed to confuse the Arsenal star. McCabe was neither the focal point of the Irish attack nor operating in a clearly defined position behind Amber Barrett.
Barrett was the only planned change from Friday with Kyra Carusa moved to the alien role of right winger, where the Californian put in a decent shift.
“We need to be more aggressive,” warned Ward pregame. “Get Katie higher up the pitch is something we are going to do.”
Ireland were muddled. They invited the Slovenians to pour through a one-woman midfield where Ruesha Littlejohn was overrun as Denise O’Sullivan and McCabe were reduced to the role of spectators during the three first-half goals.
Each one was down to the clinical finishing of Prasnikar and Kramzar as much as Slovenia exposed an Ireland team that looked like they met each other just before kick-off.
Not three minutes were clocked when the calamity commenced. Anna Patten’s routine pass towards Mannion, in acres of space on the left, hit Connolly and fell for Zara Kramžar who dropped an early ball for Prasnikar’s left foot finish through the gloves of Courtney Brosnan.
Carusa did create a snap shot for O’Sullivan that drew a fine save from Zala Meršnik, but this was the Prasnikar show.
The Eintracht Frankfurt forward beat Patten and Payne at the front post to volley a Kaja Korošec corner into the Irish net. Both defenders can share the blame as Payne lost her marker in a sprint from the penalty spot before a deft, right-foot finish caught Patten cold.
At 2-0, Ireland should have bunkered down until half-time. Instead, they conceded a third goal that exposed their collective confusion with the manager’s system. Smart passing by Prasnikar and Kramzar invited Lana Golob to whip a cross that Connolly and Payne missed, allowing the overlapping Sternad to roll a ball under five green shirts for a Kramzar tap-in.
Since 2021, only Sweden and Germany had taken a 3-0 lead against Ireland. The last time they conceded four in a competitive game was against Finland in 2016.
At the interval Ward redirected McCabe to left-back as Marissa Sheva and Tyler Toland replaced Littlejohn and Payne. Not much changed.
“It is completely unacceptable by our standards,” said McCabe. “We cannot start games like that. We have to go back to the drawing board to look where we can improve. The goals were completely avoidable, we gifted them their chances.
“We are trying a new system, we are going to make mistakes, we need to be brave on the ball. We just were not clean enough. We are going to be chasing Slovenia in the group now.”
Slovenia: Mersnik; Krizaj (Janez 71), Golob, Conc, Erzen; Makovec, Korosec, Kramzar (Kajzba 62); Sternad, Kolbl, Prasnikar (Zver 80).
Ireland: Brosnan; Payne (Sheva 46), Patten, Connolly, Mannion; Littlejohn (Toland 46); O’Sullivan, McCabe; Carusa, Barrett (Larkin 66), Quinn.
Referee: Michalina Diakow (Poland).
