Kenny Shiels had no idea that Rachel Furness was planning on stepping away from the Northern Ireland international team.
The Northern Ireland boss revealed he found out via email before speaking with Furness, the country's record goalscorer.
As reported by Belfast Live, Furness made the announcement on Thursday that she was making herself unavailable for selection "for the foreseeable future", citing personal reasons for her decision.
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The 34-year-old insists she has not retired from international football, and Shiels says he hopes the Liverpool midfielder eventually returns to the fold.
Announcing his squad for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Latvia, Shiels said: "She sent me an email, and then I rang her and we had a wee chat then.
"It was a surprise at the time. But she got to play in the finals which hopefully we made a small contribution to. I am pleased she achieved that goal."
Shiels added: "She has been a good servant for Northern Ireland but everybody has their timeline.
"I see she said it doesn't mean she is retiring, which is good."
Shiels says he hopes Furness returns to Northern Ireland duty in the future, but insists his primary focus is on the players available for next month's qualifiers.
Northern Ireland finish their campaign against Luxembourg and Latvia but are already out of contention to qualify for the finals in Australia and New Zealand.
"Of course (we'd like to see her back). Obviously we would like to see our strongest team out in every game we play but it is not like that in international football," he told the BBC.
"You get injuries, people have gone out for 10 months of a season. Caragh Hamilton, I'd rather talk about her coming back. She is not just ready yet but she played in the Champions League yesterday which was a great lift for us. I think she will be very close to being ready again soon.
"We want to focus on the players who are here, as opposed to the ones who are not."
Furness started all three games at this summer's Euro finals in England, and was instrumental in helping Northern Ireland qualify for their first major competition.
She released a statement on Thursday confirming her decision to take a break from international football.
She added: "“(This is) A decision that I’ve found incredibly hard but one I feel is right. I have informed the Irish Football Association that I am making myself unavailable for selection for the upcoming games and training camps for the foreseeable future, due to personal reasons.
“I’d like to put on record that I am not retiring from international football and I hope to make myself available again in the future.
“I wish all the girls the best.”
Northern Ireland play Luxembourg on Friday, September 2 at Stade Émile Mayrisch in Esch-sur-Alzette before taking on Latvia at the Daugava National Stadium in Riga on Tuesday, September 6.
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