The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) announced on Friday that the Irish and Colombian women's national teams' friendly match had to be called off after becoming excessively physical.
After 20 minutes of play behind closed doors in Brisbane, Australia, the game was called off.
"The game, which was held in Meakin Park, Brisbane, became overly physical and it was decided, following consultation with the match officials, to end the game," the FAI statement read.
It was later reported that "the Ireland team underwent a full training session to continue preparations for their opening game in FIFA Women's World Cup 2023..."
According to reports from the Irish media, midfielder Denise O'Sullivan was hospitalized after suffering a shin injury.
Ireland will be participating in their first World Cup this year, held in New Zealand and Australia from July 20th to August 20th. One playoff win would have sent them to Euro 2021. Before that, they qualified for the 2019 World Cup as the third-best team in a group that also included Norway and the Netherlands, two of the best teams in women's international football.
The women's national team protested inadequate funding for women's football in the country by taking legal action against their own federation six years ago. Former Netherlands, Russia, and South Africa head coach Vera Pauw was brought in to lead a complete makeover of the women's game in Ireland after a thorough evaluation of the sport was performed.
Ireland's Pauw-led team is becoming nearly impossible to defeat. Recent narrow losses (2-0 and 1-0) against the defending world champions, the USA, are indicative of their consistent level of competition.
On July 20 they face the Australian hosts, and later in the tournament they'll take on Canada and Nigeria in Group B.
