The Republic of Ireland's women's football team will face the USA in friendly matches at the end of June, but captain Katie McCabe and several key players have been rested. This includes Aoife Mannion, Heather Payne, and Aoibheann Clancy, who will not travel due to personal reasons. The matches serve as preparation for their October Nations League play-off against Belgium, with head coach Carla Ward emphasizing the need for the team to build cohesion and skills in the absence of these key players.
"When these games were first proposed to us we knew that we would be without certain players, but that opens the door for others to step up," said head coach Carla Ward.
"The two games against USA are an opportunity for us to work together on a number of things both on and off the pitch as we build towards the Uefa Nations League Play-Off against Belgium in October."
"We are building, camp by camp, so we are looking forward to getting together again and putting in some extra work that will stand to us moving forward."
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