Of the 23 players in Cyprus this week, 10 are 22 years old or younger, and 27-year-old Caldwell says they have brought energy and talent to the group.
“It is brilliant. It brings a new energy to the squad and all these girls who are coming through the ranks are immensely talented so it is fantastic that we are bringing so much talent through from the underage teams. It is a credit to those involved with the underage teams that we are producing so much talent,” said Caldwell.
Caldwell feels that the fact that so many of the young players have played at European Championship and World Cup has helped them make the transition to senior international football.
“They adapt so well when they make step up you’d swear that they have been here for many years so it’s a credit to them. They have played at a really high level so they can feed off that experience of playing in major finals and major tournaments so, with that experience behind them, it’s probably not that much of a step up but they do adapt very well.”
Caldwell admits to being slight envious of the major experiences that the young players have had and admits that her burning desire is to secure qualification to a major finals.
“That is one of the major goals of mine, to reach a final tournament with Ireland,” said Caldwell who has played 47 times for Ireland and scored once. She thought she had doubled her goals total last Wednesday against Austria only to see the goal ruled out for a very dubious offside.
“Looking back on the video footage it seems to be that I was onside. I thought I was onside in the moment and I couldn’t understand why she had flagged for offside. I thought another player was impeding the goalkeeper or something so I was a little bit disappointed that one didn’t count. We have been a little bit unlucky in having two goals disallowed in the tournament so far which were perfectly onside but as long as we keep making the chances we are going to get goals eventually.”
After spending the last few seasons in Norway, Caldwell switched countries in January when she moved to Germany and joined Koln and she admits that she is enjoying life in the Bundesliga.
“Cologne is a great city and it is a great club to be a part of. There is a lot going on in the city and the fans are so involved with the club it has been really interesting so far. It has been a challenge because the level is extremely high but it is one that I am relishing.”
With two games down and two to go, the Cyprus Cup has reached its halfway point and Caldwell feels that the performances against Austria and Italy have been encouraging.
“It’s been really good so far. We have had two really good performances and were unlucky not to get two wins. We have been strong as a team and collectively as a unit so it’s been only positives for far.”
One of the things that give her a lot of satisfaction this week was the strength of character shown on Friday when Italy took the lead late in the game and the Irish looked set to suffer an agonising defeat.
“We conceded very late in the 86th minute so keep on fighting after conceding a late goal was good. Sometimes your head can go down but we kept on going, kept trying to create chances and we got what we deserved with the goal. It was also a great goal from Katie McCabe. She is a really amazing talent and I am sure it is going to be the first of many goals for her,” said Caldwell who is now hoping that Ireland can build on that draw against Italy and put some wins on the board, starting with Monday’s game against Hungary.
“We have played so well that we deserve wins. At this point I think we are progressing nicely to finally get a win and I hope we get them in our final two games. Then we will be full of confidence and ready to take on the EURO 2017 qualifiers in April and get the results that we need.”