Yea, but not by us.
Big Jack
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You don't think so?
I don't think we had anything to fear from the other teams there.
I suppose hard to see us beating anyone so much as battling draws and if we had lost games I think we'd have put up a fight (unlike say in 2012). Games would have been epic.
I agree that the games would have been great. It's easy to forget just how good the team was then. Would a single player from the current squad get onto the team sheet for an Italia 90 match?
Ceist Beag
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Seamus Coleman would
Seamus Coleman ahead of Chris Morris is about the only one I'd class as an upgrade.
Not much between Shane Duffy and Mick McCarthy perhaps?
The current team is more like the standard of our second 11 from back then.
Think you are being a bit harsh when you look at our second 11 from 1990:
Peyton, O'Leary, Hughton, Moran, McLoughlin, Sheridan, Slaven, Byrne, Kelly, Cascarino, Stapleton.
Hughton, Moran and Stapleton were coming to the tail end of their careers and were not the first division regulars they were.
We were lucky Jack didn't have to dig too deep in the subs used beyond O'Leary, Cascarino and McLoughlin.
I think there's a half a dozen of the best of the current squad who would have claims to be at that level, especially Randolph, Coleman, Duffy, Brady.
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Randolph is a far better keeper than Packie who despite his heroics against Romania always had an error in his game.
I would add Matt Doherty and Enda Stevens to the list - both excellent attacking defenders although you are left with the problem of shoehorning Doherty and Coleman into the team.
Things are hopefully looking up with the likes of Jayson Molumby , Aaron Connolly , Troy Parrot , Obafemi , Smallbone and Lee O'Connor knocking at the door , hopefully another golden era may be around the corner.
Duke of Marmalade
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Not trying to be contrarian but the following is a summary of Ireland's performance at Italia '90.
Reading that summary (2 goals in 8 hours play and no wins) it is amazing to remember the fever pitch (PNI) that the populace reached over Italia '90.Soccer Ireland said:
Meh,
- equaliser against England, always going to blow the roof off the house.
- equaliser against Netherlands in the face of elimination, another cause for celebration.
- and of course, the penalty shoot-out, an exercise of pitting fans through emotional roller-coaster of heaven and hell.
The overall assessment, from a neutral standpoint, is probably fair. Overall it was a crap tournament. Probably the worst World Cup in living memory. Eventual winners Germany were deserving, but played out a chronic final against Argentina.
At the time, we obviously felt we punched above our weight. In hindsight, if we had got past Italy in Rome, I think we could have won it.
When FIFA introduced rankings in 1992 I think we were around 8th, and this after failing to qualify for Euros in 1992. We reached a ranking peak of 6th prior to USA 94.
In 1990 the players were in their peak. Nobody could beat us, except that damn Schillachi chap!
Every goalkeeper has an error in his game at some point even at the top level. I would like to think that the upcoming young squad will bring success ,I really hope so. I really like Coleman, Duffy and Brady but still do not think that they would have made the 1990 squad.
Schillachi will always be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Schillachi will always be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
As Theo says, it was impossible not to be caught up in the drama. The quality was generally poor but the drama overwhelmed that - plus a lot of people were more or less watching soccer for the first time, so weren't inclined to second guess the tactics or selections - indeed dissenters to the Jackies army cause could expect harsh treatment!! I think it was against Poland when we failed to qualify for '92, a big let down.
Surely the reason he is so popular is that what he achieved back then was much more important than football or the style of play. I was only a young boy in 1988 but even I still remember where I was watching the English game. I remember my dad jumping around like an excited school boy. Same with the world cup in 1990. Those days just brought joy to a Country at a time when it needed it badly. Even now as an adult, I still remember those moments with my dad. I remember going to Wembley to see us pulverise England in a 1-1 draw with my dad before I lost him less than a year later. I remember recreating matches with my friends. Jumping around the streets. Singing rubbish football songs. Yes the football was God Damn awful but they are memories that will last a lifetime.
RIP Jack. An English and Irish legend.
RIP Jack. An English and Irish legend.
I had nearly forgotten about that game at Wembley. That was actually one of the great performances. It may not have been stylish, but pinning the home team into their last third, for as long as we did, was an awesome performance. Houghton missed a sitter.
Unbeaten against England in 5 (ish) games,
and lets be clear about this, the really important point was that we beat the English and gained the high moral ground after the Landsdown Road riots as well.
and lets be clear about this, the really important point was that we beat the English and gained the high moral ground after the Landsdown Road riots as well.
Ian O'Doherty has an article in today's Indo putting Euro 88 into the context of the Irish sporting culture at the time, the opposition in CBS schools to soccer, the Ban etc
Before Euro '88 supporting the Irish international soccer team was a minority sporting interest, unlike GAA which held the central position unchallenged really.
After Euro '88 the green soccer jerseys were everywhere. It was now mainstream.
Before Euro '88 supporting the Irish international soccer team was a minority sporting interest, unlike GAA which held the central position unchallenged really.
After Euro '88 the green soccer jerseys were everywhere. It was now mainstream.
I went to a CBS School in the 80's and it was a feeder school for the local GAA club. Basketball was a close second to GAA with Golf and a few other sports also getting some support (though is Golf really a sport?). Nobody played soccer.
The real change though is how much GAA has intruded into schools in Dublin which used to be bastions of Rugby.