Ireland defender Diane Caldwell admits it’s time Vera Pauw’s side started to match good performances with some positive results to end a long losing streak.

As the European football family gears up for a month-long festival in the form of Euro 2020, Ireland’s senior women’s side are in Iceland, preparing for two friendly games (tomorrow and Tuesday) against their hosts as preparation for the start of the next campaign in September.

A positive start to the Euro qualifiers ended in a three-game losing streak last year, and to date 2021 has brought two games and two defeats. 

Those losses, by a 1-0 margin to Denmark and a Netherlands outfit rated as the third-best side in the world, saw Pauw’s charges come away with praise, but ahead of two clashes with an Iceland side ranked 17th in the world (10th in Europe), 17 places ahead of Ireland, Caldwell is keen to see actual victories, not moral ones.

“We need to push on, you could see from the friendly games, we can compete, now we need results,” says the 32-year-old, who recently joined US outfit North Carolina Courage after a nine-year spell with a number of European clubs.

“This gives us a chance to compete against a really top team. Hopefully we can take the next step and get results on the board. For a long time we’ve been talking about how the performances have been good but we need the results to go along with it.

“We have two really tough tests against a good Iceland team so hopefully we can develop and get some really good results,” added Caldwell, who is pleased to have returned to the US scene after a decade away playing for clubs in Iceland, Norway and Germany.

“‘The American Dream’, it’s been going really well so far,” she says of the move which saw her link up with Ireland team-mate Denise O’Sullivan.

“I’ve been there two and a half months, I had a little bit of visa delays with Covid and everything. I was happy to get there and catch the tail end of pre-season, we’ve four games played in the league and I’ve played in the last two.

“I wasn’t thinking of going back to America, I thought that chapter was closed after being there so long in my college days and wanting to stay in Europe to be close to my family. Then when the Courage came, look, I know I had to take that chance.

“I would have loved to have that opportunity earlier on in my career. It would really have helped my game develop. Everything happens for a reason, I had that path for those experiences I got along the way. Without those experiences, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I am grateful for how my career panned out.”