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The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is now less than a week away.
And while there are plenty of intriguing story lines surrounding the United States Women’s National Team, who are looking to win a record third consecutive World Cup, it was two other teams that stole the show on Friday.
Those teams are Ireland, which qualified for the tournament for the first time, and Colombia, which reached the round of 16 in 2015 and is playing in its third World Cup.
The two teams got together on Friday for what was supposed to be a casual tune up game.
It was anything but that.
After just 20 minutes, the game had to be cancelled altogether due to violence on the field between the two teams.
Republic of Ireland’s last warm up match before the #wwc2023 against Colombia abandoned due to it becoming overly physical. pic.twitter.com/y8HnPPFrbe
— Tom Hamilton (@tomhamiltonespn) July 14, 2023
Ireland issued the following statement after the match:
“The behind-closed-doors game between the Ireland Women’s National Team and Colombia on Friday evening was ended after 20 minutes of play.
The game, which was held in Meakin Park, Brisbane, became overly physical and it was decided, following consultation with the match officials, to end the game.The Ireland team then underwent a full training session to continue preparations for their opening game in FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 against Australia in Sydney on July 20.”
Irish midfielder Denise O’Sullivan reportedly went to the hospital after suffering a shin injury during the match.
Clearly, Ireland felt Colombia was responsible for the aggression. But Colombia did not agree.
“The Colombian Football Federation informs that the friendly match that was to take place as part of today’s training between the Colombia women’s national team and Ireland was suspended because the Irish national team preferred not to continue playing when 23 minutes of the first half had elapsed,” the federation said in their own statement. ““Although all the processes and training of our teams are framed within the rules of the game, healthy competition and fair play, we respect the decision of our rival team.”
If that’s what happens in scrimmage, lord only knows what it’ll be like when the tournament actually starts.