Dec 03,2024
Wales were impressed by their surroundings on Monday afternoon as they took in all that Aviva Stadium has to offer.
Manager Rhian Wilkinson and her captain Angharad James-Turner both described the venue as "beautiful", but make no mistake, they're here to ruin the view for the majority of the 25,000-plus expected to attend tomorrow night.
Wilkinson is an assured, confident presence who's tapped into Wales' hunger to make a first ever major tournament. Having sized the Republic of Ireland up in Friday's Euro 2025 play-off first leg, which ended 1-1, the Canadian downplayed suggestions Eileen Gleeson's team now have the edge.
"I think it's beholden to the coach of the home nation to talk about the massive advantage of having a home crowd," said Wilkinson in reference to Gleeson's view that Ireland will benefit from the power of a Lansdowne roar.
"Equally there is a huge pressure on you at home with a home crowd, just trying to get behind their team. And that is a pressure that’s on them. You love playing at home in front of your fans, but equally we’re excited to be here.
"It’s a fabulous stadium. It will be a great team stepping out for Ireland but the pressure will be on them, which is always a good thing for me and our team."
"We were disappointed as a whole with our performance in Cardiff on Friday."
Those sort of mind games are par for the course when the stakes are this high. However Wilkinson's belief that her team can prevail on Irish soil is genuine.
Asked if, at the start of the year she would have taken a match against Ireland to potentially make the Euros, she replied: "Yes. (My) first time meeting the team was in Ireland last February). (Eileen) was experimenting, she had a different roster, a different structure. The same thing for Wales.
"I think we refer back to that game because it was the last game we played them but it’s also not an accurate description of either team. But we’ve talked about it as a group as well.
"This new format, home and away, the qualification format, it’s long, it’s thorough, extended, but to have two equal teams and two teams that are so clear on their mandate of leaving football in a better place when they leave it and the legacy piece, to have that opportunity in two wonderful stadiums, Cardiff and now here at the Aviva, to battle it out to represent their country at a major tournament, what a moment.
"We are excited about it. So yes I would is the short answer."
The noises from the Wales camp since Friday's draw have been pretty consistent. They feel they have another level in them and got sucked into Ireland's direct, physical approach.
That's an assertion that can be debated, but James-Turner doubled down on it on Monday.
"We can always be better," she said. "We were disappointed as a whole with our performance in Cardiff on Friday. But we’ve done it before. We did it against Slovakia (in the play-off semi-final), we came back from behind.
"The magnitude of this game, to play in a stadium as beautiful as this and to have 25,000 fans here tomorrow are the games that, as a little kid, you dream of. To do it for Wales and to put the red shirt on and to do it with this group of players, this group of staff, is special."
Wilkinson has no fresh injury concerns. The squad enjoyed an early Christmas dinner together on Saturday, having made a conscious decision to tune out from the pressures of this play-off.
Now it's full steam ahead as the visitors look to pull off what would be the biggest victory in the history of Welsh women's football.
"Do I think we have another level? Absolutely," Wilkinson declared. "This is an incredible team and my staff will stand behind them, no matter what happens.
"We felt Ireland, their physicality and the way they play, their very distinct style which they are very good at. They have some special players and we felt that.
"But now it's time for them to see what Wales can do because equally, we have many special players and have played some teams that are hard to break down already, and scored some beautiful goals."
