Women’s Nations League: Republic of Ireland boss Ward targets Nations Cup win over ‘top side’ Slovenia

Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward says they will face a Slovenia team with an “abundance of quality” in Tuesday night’s Nations Cup game in Koper.

Slovenia beat Greece 2-1 in their League B Group 2 opener on Friday while the Republic of Ireland clinched a 1-0 win over Turkey in Dublin.

“Slovenia are a top side – their age groups are showing that. Every single age group is improving in their rankings,” Ward told RTE Sport.

“The first team are no different. They’re a good side, they’ve got players with Champions League experience. But if I’m honest I think this type of game will be better than the game against Turkey.

“Why? Because you’ve got two teams who want to play football. There will be spaces that open up which naturally makes for a better game. It’ll be a very different game but it will be a tough game because they’ve got an abundance of quality.”

Kyra Carusa scored the only goal as Ward began her reign as Republic of Ireland boss with victory over Turkey at Tallaght Stadium.

However, Ward said after the match her team’s display “wasn’t pretty” and there was room for improvement.

“The system will never change with me – I have a very clear way of playing, the players can see that,” Ward said on Monday.

“It’s trying to continue getting those messages in, but we are going to try and look at something that will allow us to create more because we didn’t create enough [against Turkey].

“We looked at it – five shots in the first half, none in the second. That’s an area that we’ve focused a lot of our work on the last couple of days, both on and off the pitch.”