Jess Fishlock and manager Gemma Grainger have praised goalkeeper Laura O’Sullivan on the occasion of her 50th cap.
O’Sullivan reached the milestone on the day that Wales reached the semi-final of the Pinatar Cup with a 3-1 victory over Scotland.
Fishlock after the game was full of praise for her long-time teammate.
‘Laura’s huge, and I always say that I could never do what Laura does. She is a massive inspiration, and I am in awe of the ability that she has to give us everything that she has, plays for Cardiff, gets 50 caps, and works a full-time job! I couldn’t do it’
‘I don’t think she gets enough credit for doing that, being our number one, keeping us in games, us having total confidence in her all the time. It says more about Laura and the type of person she is than anything else. I have nothing but huge words.’
Manager Gemma Grainger continued the plaudits for Wales’ number one.
‘Laura’s personality, her character, her humility, they’re really good ingredients of a world-class player. In terms of how she trains day-to-day, that’s a word-class mentality for me. Full-time job and then being able to step onto the international stage and being able to perform consistently, it’s remarkable, it blows my mind to think about how she has the discipline, how she has the confidence, and then being so humble about how she does it’
‘To have her in this team, she’s not a loud leader, but the way she leads is through her actions, through the small conversations that we have with her, and I’m building that relationship with her where she’s influencing other players and the team in her way. She’s an absolute leader in this team’
Wales on the right track
Wales’ win not only sets themselves up for the rest of this mini tournament, but crucially it is also a good indicator of where the squad is in terms of the rest of their World Cup qualifying campaign.
‘The key thing for us in these games was to keep the focus on what we want to do in the World Cup campaign, so of course the win was a positive and for me I’m looking at all the learning that we take out of these games.’ Explained Grainger.
‘When we play against higher ranking opposition, it is such a good opportunity to see how we’re developing and then we take points with us and then take that into the next game in this tournament and most importantly into the campaign’
Fishlock also said that playing the teams in this tournament is a chance to see how Wales might fare in the World Cup playoffs.
‘I think that’s what’s great about this kind of tournament for us, there’s teams that will likely be in the playoff spots, and teams that we’ll be coming and facing up against, if we get what we want to get out of this campaign’
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