Liverpool's O'Sullivan to miss World Cup qualifier with Dutch
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Republic of Ireland midfielder Denise O'Sullivan will miss Saturday's World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands in Utrecht because of injury.O'Sullivan suffered an injury to her right knee when making a challenge during the first half of Tuesday's 2-1 defeat by France at Tallaght Stadium and Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward confirmed on Friday the Liverpool player has returned to her club.O'Sullivan, 32, played the remainder of the World Cup qualifying opener against the French in Dublin, almost scoring an equalising goal in stoppage time."Denise has returned home to Liverpool with that knock on her knee so won't be available tomorrow night," Ward told reporters at a pre-match press conference."We have a squad that are well equipped on how we want to play so our approach won't change but when you lose someone of Denise's quality - she really is world class and makes a huge difference to what we do - naturally, that's a big loss."The approach will stay the same because the players, the group, everyone knows what we want to do and they'll all be prepared for that."Ward must now decide who will step in to replace O'Sullivan for the encounter against the world's 11th-ranked team at Stadion Galgenwaard (kick-off 19:45 GMT)."It's difficult to replace Denise in any team. I would put Denise in any team around the world, that's how highly I think of her," Ward added.
"But we have a tight-knit squad, a prepared squad. Everybody understands their roles and everyone looks after each other.
Whoever goes in there will know exactly what's expected."O'Sullivan's absence will be her first from a competitive international game since she was ruled out of Euros qualifiers against Sweden in 2024.In more positive news for Ward and the Irish squad, captain Katie McCabe will be available after picking up a niggle during the meeting with France."Katie's fine, she's good and ready to go," Ward said.The Netherlands opened their League A Group 2 campaign with a 2-2 draw against Poland on Tuesday.