Marissa Sheva may be driving on ‘wrong' side of the road but believes Ireland are on the right track
MARISSA SHEVA is psyching herself up to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road, having quickly come to grips with her new challenges with Ireland.
The Sunderland midfielder, 28, is in Istanbul preparing for Ireland's Nations League clash with Turkey on Friday and the home game with Slovenia in Cork next Tuesday.
But by July she will be back in England for pre-season training, with her off-the-field priority to buy a car.
Signed from Portland in March, the US-born star has been settling into life in England easily with the help of Ireland club-mate Jessie Stapleton.
But knowing the English season ended in April and that she would then be on international duty, she put off her car search until July.
Instead, Stapleton has been her chauffeur, with payment in flat whites.
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Sheva said: 'My apartment isn't too far from the training ground. So I was like, I can bribe Jessie into driving me or figure out public transport and then I will sort a car for pre-season, because I knew I was going to be away all summer.'
But getting wheels will mean driving on the left side of the road — the opposite to what Sheva is used to, having been brought up in Pennsylvania.
She said: 'I have driven my auntie's car in Ireland before, I think I was 18 the last time I drove and it mentally scarred me.
'Because she kept hitting me because I was trying to drive on the right side of the road every time I had to turn!
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'I think I will be a little bit better now that it's ten years later and I have been spending a bit more time in Europe.'
But adapting to driving on the other side should be easy for Sheva, who has quickly adjusted to the new demands on her with Ireland.
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Capped by Vera Pauw and Eileen Gleeson since her first call-up in 2023 — when she played in the World Cup — Sheva has featured in all four games to date under Ireland's latest boss Carla Ward.
And the midfielder reckons that the team will only get better with each camp under Ward as they adapt to her more attacking tactics.
Sheva said: 'There was almost an overhaul of tactics, of what we were previously playing.
'I think we're being encouraged to build out from the back more, we're being encouraged to be a little bit more aggressive from the get-go, trying to utilise our midfield more.
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Sheva has had a bright start to her international career
'I think you can't change that overnight. That takes a little bit of time, especially with a new staff and new players in some of those positions.
'Even though this is a tight-knit group and a lot of us girls have played together for so many years, it's just a new style of play.
"It's really tough to implement that in one or two or even three camps.'
Ward's first camp in February was a mirror of this one as Ireland faced Turkey in Tallaght, in soggy underfoot conditions, and travelled to Slovenia, where they suffered a 4-0 humbling.
Sheva added: 'Turkey and Slovenia were two tough teams to implement those tactics with, but we're better for it now that we've had a few camps.
'We're looking forward to playing them on hopefully a harder pitch — Tallaght was an absolute mess in that first camp.
'We're in a better position now to implement how Carla wants to play. This will be a better camp than the first one against the same opponents.'
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