{"id":293698,"date":"2023-11-01T01:24:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T01:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=293698"},"modified":"2023-11-01T01:24:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T01:24:49","slug":"irelands-win-womens-nations-league-match-amid-waterlogged-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/irelands-win-womens-nations-league-match-amid-waterlogged-pitch\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland&apos;s\u00a0win Women&apos;s Nations League match amid waterlogged pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Republic of Ireland win Women&#8217;s Nations League clash with Albania despite a 90-minute delay caused by a waterlogged pitch&#8230; as stunned fans claim players needed snorkels amid the torrential downpour<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A first half downpour led to conditions increasingly becoming unplayable<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The referee delayed the second half to remove standing water from the pitch<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast &#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Republic of Ireland\u00a0earned a 1-0 win in their Women&#8217;s Nations League\u00a0match against Albania despite the match being delayed for 90 minutes due to a waterlogged pitch.<\/p>\n<p>The teams played out a goalless first half at the\u00a0Loro Borici Stadium amid a torrential downpour.<\/p>\n<p>Heavy rain began in the early stages of the half amid a thunderstorm, which increasingly made the pitch unplayable as the match progressed.<\/p>\n<p>The ball was regularly seen stopping in the standing water as half-time approached.<\/p>\n<p>A decision was taken by the match officials to suspend the match at half-time, with ground staff working to make the pitch playable.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/19\/77239673-12694733-image-a-11_1698781321597.jpg\" height=\"402\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Republic of Ireland played out the first half of their match amid a downpour in Albania<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/19\/77239675-12694733-image-a-12_1698781327242.jpg\" height=\"796\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Arsenal star Katie McCabe was among the players forced to battle the conditions in\u00a0Shkoder<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/20\/77240843-12694733-image-a-18_1698783524811.jpg\" height=\"726\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The ball was increasingly held up in standing water on the pitch as the first half continued<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The referee has decided to suspend play for 60 minutes due to the weather conditions,&#8217; an Irish FA statement read. &#8216;A decision will then be made whether the game can be resumed.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Ground staff removed water from the playing surface during the delay as rain eased in Albania.<\/p>\n<p>The Irish FA later confirmed &#8216;The referee has decided that the game will continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8221;Should conditions worsen, the referee will inform both teams as to what the next course of action will be.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Fans have criticised the decision to proceed with the match given the conditions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;That&#8217;s unbelievable the officials haven&#8217;t called that off, if it was a men&#8217;s game it would have been abandoned after 30mins,&#8217; one fan commented.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There&#8217;s some common sense needed, referee has to abandon it at half time surely there&#8217;s 0 way you can play in that especially when it&#8217;s nowhere near improving,&#8217; another said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Absolutely ridiculous expecting players to try and play in those conditions. More like a swimming pool than a football pitch,&#8217; added a third.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/19\/77239681-12694733-image-a-13_1698781338753.jpg\" height=\"407\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The first half ended goalless with officials forced to determine if the match could proceed\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/19\/77239683-12694733-image-a-14_1698782354595.jpg\" height=\"417\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Officials delayed the start of the second half for 90 minutes to clear water from the surface<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/19\/77239679-12694733-image-a-15_1698782383317.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A decision was later taken to resume the match with the second half able to be completed<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/19\/77239687-12694733-image-a-16_1698782392972.jpg\" height=\"433\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Fans have criticised the decision to allow the match to take place amid the conditions<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/20\/77241495-12694733-image-a-24_1698784714145.jpg\" height=\"416\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Denise O&#8217;Sullivan scored the only goal in the Republic of Ireland&#8217;s narrow win over Albania<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Not helping Women&#8217;s football at all with decisions like this. If that was a men&#8217;s game that would be called off,&#8217; wrote a fourth.<\/p>\n<p>Another fan stated: &#8216;Just another day in women&#8217;s football. Decisions are baffling but not surprising at this point.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Insanity. May get the players snorkels for the second half,&#8217; a fan wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The Republic of Ireland were chasing a second successive win over Albania, after earning a 5-1 win over their opponents at home last week.<\/p>\n<p>Eileen Gleeson&#8217;s side preserved their 100 per cent record in Group B1 as\u00a0Denise O&#8217;Sullivan scored an 88th minute winner to secure their fourth successive victory.<\/p>\n<p>A draw between Northern Ireland and Hungary in the same group will see the Republic of Ireland earn promotion with two matches to spare.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12694733\/Republic-Ireland-Womens-Nations-League-Albania-waterlogged-pitch.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Republic of Ireland win Women&#8217;s Nations League clash with Albania despite a 90-minute delay caused by a waterlogged pitch&#8230; as stunned fans claim players needed <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/irelands-win-womens-nations-league-match-amid-waterlogged-pitch\/\" title=\"Ireland&amp;apos;s\u00a0win Women&amp;apos;s Nations League match amid waterlogged pitch\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ireland&amp;apos;s\u00a0win Women&amp;apos;s Nations League match amid waterlogged pitch - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/irelands-win-womens-nations-league-match-amid-waterlogged-pitch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ireland&amp;apos;s\u00a0win Women&amp;apos;s Nations League match amid waterlogged pitch - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Republic of Ireland win Women&#8217;s Nations League clash with Albania despite a 90-minute delay caused by a waterlogged pitch&#8230; 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