The abandoned Ireland-Colombia friendly was a chaotic affair. It has even provoked a player in the Colombian women’s national team to make some interesting comments about the Ireland team members.

These two sides attempted to play a friendly in Australia as both prepare for the upcoming Women’s World Cup. However, the match had to be abandoned after just 20 minutes for being “overly physical.”

Ireland midfielder Denise O’Sullivan had to be taken to the hospital after a challenge from a Colombian player.

The game was then called off soon after the incident. After the match, Colombian defender Daniela Caracas spoke to reporters while signing autographs.

Caracas was heard saying “let them eat s—” while referring to the Ireland team. The 26-year-old South American also labeled her opponents as “little girls.” O’Sullivan reportedly did not suffer a fracture from the challenge.

Irish coach ‘shocked’ by Colombian’s comments

Ireland manager Vera Pauw was later asked about the Colombian’s comments. The coach claimed to be “shocked” and insisted that her players “feared for their bodies” during the shortened match.

“It was something I had never experienced before in my 47 years being involved in football, not as a player, not as a coach,” Pauw explained to Sky Sports.

“It started lively, a good game, normal, and then the atmosphere built up to becoming over-physical.”

“Then there came a huge challenge on Denise, a challenge not within the rules of the game and she was in awful pain. I went to the coach of Colombia and I said: ‘I need help from you, we need to calm this down. We all want to go to the World Cup.’ The players were extremely upset and had fear for themselves.”

“We are not a team who fear tackles or challenges,” continued the coach. “I took them away to calm things down, brought them to the bench. We discussed it and there was contact with the president and the CEO of the FAI. Collectively we knew it would not come right any more and if it went on we would put our players into a potentially-serious situation. We had a calm discussion with the ref and they called off the game.”

Ireland-Colombia could be repeated in World Cup quarterfinals

As both teams will feature in the upcoming Women’s World Cup, they could meet later in the competition.

In fact, it is possible that they will face off as early as the quarterfinals. This is assuming, of course, that the two teams get passed the group stage of the competition. Ireland is currently ranked 22nd by FIFA, while Colombia sits three places back at 25th.

Photo credit: IMAGO / PA Images