In 90 it was Holland 1 Ireland 1 when the England result against Egypt came in 1-0. So as it stood Egypt we’re going out and the rest of us progressed. So Ireland Holland pretty much stopped playing, Tony Cascarino didn’t get the message that the game was decided between the two captains, McCarthy and Gullit, and big Cas was still milling gym about for 5 mins before the rest of the players told him to relax haha. it got so bad the red was stopping the game to tell the players to attack
We went on to knock Romania and Hagi in the next round, John Aldridge has pulled a muscle and was coming off at half time so he nearly took Hagi out of the game with a tackle. Hagi battered us that day. Packie Bonner was my hero for years after as a result of that penalty save which looking back now, it was more of a bad pen than a good save.
Schillachi knocked us out in the next round. For a few years after in Dublin, the was still T-shirt’s going around which just said “Fuck Schillachi”
we did get our own back in 94, and Ray Houghton did score a belter, I’ve always enjoyed playing Italy.
In 94 the Dutch knocked us out 2-1 in the 2nd round. We’d beaten them in a warm up a few weeks before the tournament. But in the US, McGrath was immense that day and had a late goal disallowed. But 2-2 was never a favoured Irish result, we generally leaned towards 1-1.
But yeah man, Italia 90 was epic. Interesting I watched the Maradonna doc recently. There’s a good chunk documenting Italia 90 which is worth a watch
Great memories in fairness. We were lucky to survive against Romania to be honest. Always loved Hagi and he is one of my favourite midfielders ever anyway.
Went to both games in Giants stadium in '94. The Italy game was epic. It was supposed to be a few thousand Irish and tens of thousands of Italians from New Jersey etc. Of course everybody knows now that we had at least three quarters of the stadium that day. We scored tickets from everywhere but I was still surprised how many more we had there. Brilliant brilliant day. Was also at the Norway game which clinched passage to the next round. Still though; probably one of the worst games of football that I have ever seen...did I care? Nahh. I had a pop-up Jack Charlton hat and the few Norwegians there all had Viking helmets and skis and were a great crowd. Boy could they drink...the only people who can outdrink those loons are the Finns imo...:)
We were not as good as we were in '90 and the Dutch knocked us out with relative ease really although they were no great shakes that year too.
Which reminds me: some of the greatest midfielders seen following Ireland are:
Platini, Tigana, Giresse - that French midfield; just wow...
Gullitt - destroyed us in Dalymount in '83. Him and van Basten. Before they were household names.
Hagi
Playing for Ireland:
Brady - Rolls Royce of a player
Ronnie Whelan,
I saw Giles once in the 70's. Well past his best but man could he pick a pass. And wasn't as dirty as he was with Leeds. Some player.
Paul McGrath. Although as everyone knows, he was a better CH. But he was still a brilliant midfielder.
Keane. Hated him with manure but got behind him when he played with Ireland. Not forgiving Saipan any time soon though. Plus I may have played against him in Cork back in the day. Dirty cranky little bastard back then too. Assuming it was him. He may have been only 15 or something. He was on that team that we played at the time - Rockmount Celtic. He could fucking play though.
For the rest - again only seen live:
Silva, Yaya, Lampard, Makelele, Pirlo, Can I couunt Maradona as a midfielder? If so, yeah him. He was pretty good...;)
So many that I have not seen live that have been mentioned earlier in the thread. Too many to mention so I won't. Went to the US in '89 so haven't had that much exposure to the real top class stuff over the last 30 years. But I have seen a few in my time...;)
