World Cup NOW: Standout players in Canada-Ireland matchup

There's no doubt that the highlight of Canada vs. Ireland on Wednesday, and one of the most iconic moments so far in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, was the Katie McCabe Olimpico goal in the early moments of the match. 

In the end, though, Ireland lost to Canada 2-1, which eliminated the debutante team from the knockout round. But players on both sides contributed to the well-fought battle and stood out to the World Cup NOW team of Jimmy Conrad, Melissa Ortiz, Freya Coombe and Stu Holden.

The crew discussed the players who impressed them most and what the future might hold for the inexperienced Ireland team.

Coombe: "Yes, I think it's definitely that [Christine Sinclair] changed the game when she came in. I think she added that presence, that leadership, that maturity that was so needed just to calm [Canada] down. Her movement, she was very creative. You see it got a lot of opportunities, but unfortunately the ball just didn't fall her way … you're there, and you're praying that she scores a goal, but … it just didn't quite happen for her."

Ortiz: Quinn for me was my favorite player [in] the second half. Quinn was all over the field, defensively, in transition. As soon as they recuperated the ball, they were like right away looking to the next player to, to the next forward. Quinn had a great game."

Holden: "I was impressed with Ireland, and it's weird they're going to be sitting on zero points right now. You go back to the first game against Australia – it's a penalty and … a couple of close moments for them on set pieces. This game, the go ahead, then they concede that kind of unlucky goal right before the end of the half. And then there's a moment of quality for Canada. On the balance, the two teams they played I would say are more talented than Ireland. And they knew that coming in. That's why they played this low, organized defensive block. 

"They just don't have enough quality … those are the two best players on their team, Denise O'Sullivan and Katie McCabe … [McCabe] can play in just about any team that I've seen in this tournament right now, but the problem is even at the end, she takes on four women. Goes past them looking for a shot. She's trying to do it all by herself because there’s really just not enough quality up front for them. So it's a great start. I think we're going to expect more for them in the future."

Ortiz: "For Colombia, our first Women's World Cup was 2011 and then 2012 was our first Olympics — any women's team in the history for Colombia to compete in the Olympics. And, for us, that generation, that was the building blocks for what was next for 2015. We didn't qualify for 2019, but now for this World Cup – and we saw Colombia play yesterday, and they had a fantastic showing – but it's just the building blocks of gaining that confidence and experience. … The first World Cup is like, ‘Wow this is incredible. I made it here' … Second World Cup, if they qualify for the next one, I think actually Ireland could have a decent performance given a building team."