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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Turnbull

Republic of Ireland to face China PR in pre-World Cup friendly

The Republic of Ireland's World Cup bound women's side will face China in a friendly as preparations continue ahead of the tournament.

Vera Pauw's team will face the world ranked 14th side on Wednesday February 22nd in the Estadio Nuevo Mirador in Spain. The team will be based at the Marbella Football Centre. The same location they used for their training camp last November.

China were World Cup runners-up in 1999 and won the AFC Women's Asian Cup for the ninth time last year. This victory gained them qualification for this summers tournament. The match will kick off 1pm Irish time.

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Manager Vera Pauw said, "It is vital to our preparations for the World Cup that we make the most of every opportunity that we have together as a squad because we only have three international windows left before that tournament starts in July. This training camp will be key to those preparations".

"China are a technically very good team who will be different from the type of teams we have come up against before. Playing against them gives us the chance to experience the pressure of international football against a highly skilled opponent". "As part of the February training camp, we will also play against Germany in what we have agreed will be a behind-closed-doors game. This will be an excellent test for our players."

Broadcasting details for the match have yet to be revealed. Ireland kick-off their World Cup campaign against Australia on 20th July.

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