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The Ireland XI that faced USA in their most recent friendly. Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Final Preparations

Ireland to face Colombia in Brisbane in final World Cup warm-up game

The sides will play behind closed doors six days before Ireland make their major tournament debut against co-hosts Australia.

THE REPUBLIC OF Ireland women’s national football team will face Colombia in a behind-closed-door game in Brisbane just before the World Cup.

Vera Pauw’s side will be based in the Queensland city for their first-ever major tournament, which they open against co-hosts Australia on 20 July in Sydney.

Ireland are set to play Colombia for the first time at senior women’s level at Meakin Park, Brisbane six days beforehand, on Friday, 14 July.

“With both teams keen to use their full quota of players, the fixture will not be classified as an official game but will serve as a competitive encounter between two teams preparing for the World Cup,” an FAI statement reads.

While Ireland are in Group B with Australia, Canada and Nigeria, Colombia are pitted against Germany, Morocco and South Korea in Group H. This is their third World Cup finals appearance while they are 26th in the Fifa Women’s World Rankings. The Girls In Green are at an all-time high of 22nd.

This completes their World Cup preparation, with Pauw’s charges due to face Zambia and France at Tallaght Stadium on 22 June and 6 July respectively.

(Tickets for those games go on public sale tomorrow at 10am on Ticketmaster. Pre-sale and WNT Season Tickets — the FAI confirmed this morning that 1,300 have been sold to date — are available now.)

Ireland have played friendlies against Morocco (4-0 win), Germany (behind closed doors), China PR (0-0 draw) and world champions USA (2-0 and 1-0 defeats) since qualifying for the World Cup last October.

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