Stephanie Zambra: I’ve come to terms with missing out on World Cup
While it hasn’t been entirely easy, Stephanie Zambra has slowly come to terms with the fact that she is in Australia for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in a media rather than a playing capacity.
Part of RTÉ’s coverage for the Republic of Ireland’s historic first appearance at the tournament, Zambra (who played under her maiden name of Roche until this year) had hoped to be in a position to add to the 58 senior international caps she has accrued to date in the southern hemisphere nation.
Although she has only played twice under Irish manager Vera Pauw – a European Championship qualifier against Greece in November 2019 and a friendly encounter with the Philippines in June of last year – she had featured in a number of home-based training sessions that were organised by the Dutch native.
She is currently playing her club football with Shamrock Rovers in the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division, but a hamstring injury that ruled her out for several games effectively placed an Irish recall beyond her reach.
“I kind of always hoped there would still be a chance that I would get in if I performed well in the league, but I think getting that injury set my mind that I’m probably not going to get in now. I probably had a lot of time to just digest that and realise that it wasn’t going to happen. As I said, for years and years you’re always hoping to get to a major tournament,” Zambra acknowledged.
“Now that Ireland are there and I’m not there, it’s hard to take, but I’m very close still with a lot of the girls on the team. I played for years with a lot of them.
“I’ve gotten my head around it for a while now that it wasn’t going to happen. It doesn’t make it any easier, but it’s something that I’ve come to terms with and I’m lucky now to be working with RTÉ and doing the games. Being there in some kind of way.”
Zambra was speaking from Sydney on Tuesday as part of a promotional event for Carlsberg 0.0. It is in this very city that Ireland will begin their long-awaited World Cup Group B campaign this Thursday against co-hosts Australia at a packed out Accor Stadium.
The Matildas are expected to reach the knockout rounds of the World Cup for a fifth successive occasion on home soil and while Ireland defeated them in a friendly at Tallaght Stadium back in September 2021, Zambra is of the belief that a draw would be an excellent result for Pauw’s side on their tournament debut.
“I think if we can frustrate them a little bit in terms of getting the crowd on their back, I think we’ve every chance of getting a result. I think if we could get a draw that would be great. It’s a dangerous game to play to go in and play for a draw, but I think with the quality you’re playing against, you’d definitely take a point,” Zambra added.