IRELAND’S CRUNCH GAMES IN THE WORLD CUP

By Donal "Statto" Cullen

Every four years or so fans from around the World look forward to seeing who their team draws in the World Cup. It is a time of great excitement and inevitably when the draw is made fans all over the World look at their opponents and pick out who they regard as the danger team in the group. Now if you are Germany, there might be only one, maybe two but if you are San Marino then you start worrying as soon as Sepp Blatter whips out his balls….er, so to speak.

            So when Ireland came out in a group that had the World Champions, Italy and a strong Bulgarian side these were immediately recognized as the potential impediments to Ireland getting to South Africa. This is not to discount the other three teams in our group but when the shake up for places in the finals and play-offs are considered, Italy, Bulgaria and Ireland were be there to fight it out. Therefore while every fixture is important the six between the top three will be the vital ones, or the crunch ones, that will decide the group.

            So what is Ireland’s record in these crunch games in the World Cup? Well, I am glad you asked as this blog would be just another waste of space had you not.

            Ireland played in two World Cup’s before the war but they would not fit into the context of this blog so lets move on to the 1950 World Cup. There Ireland were placed in a group with Sweden and Finland with the Finns very much the minnows so it was the two meetings between Sweden and Ireland which would decide the group. Sweden won both meetings 3-1 and qualified easily.

            In the next World Cup the crunch games were against France and again France won them both and qualified easily. Not so the next one when the games between Ireland and England would decide who would get to Sweden. Ireland lost the first met at Wembley but were in a whisker of forcing a play-off when England scored a late injury time goal to qualify.

            The 1962 World Cup saw Ireland, for the first time, as the minnows of the group with Scotland and Czechoslovakia expected to duke it out and so it proved with the Czechs winning a play-off. So strange to relate Ireland didn’t really have crunch games this time around.

            For the 1966 World Cup Spain and Ireland were expected to be the teams to fight it out for a place in the final after Syria withdrew. Ireland won the first match and only needed a draw in the second to qualify but were soundly beaten. A play-off game was won by Spain in Paris.

            The 1970 qualifiers were another when Ireland were the minnows (along with Denmark) and could be said to have not faced any crunch games. The same could be said for the 1974 World Cup qualifiers as the USSR and France were the main teams in a group of three. As it turned out France only took one of four points from Ireland to deny them a place in the finals.

            It could be said that the three teams in Group 5 for the 1978 World Cup were all in contention for a finals spot and so all Ireland’s games were crunch games. The group was decided when both Bulgaria and Ireland dropped a single home point and France got to Argentina.

            For the 1982 World Cup qualifiers only Cyprus were the only ones not expected to be in contention for a finals spot of which, for the first time, there would be two. Ireland did well at home but suffered away and in the end it was France’s and Belgium’s 100% records at home that was the deciding factors.

            Ireland were again in the mix for the 1986 World Cup and expected to challenge the fading USSR and the up-and-coming Denmark for a place in the finals. Again two were on offer but Switzerland emerged to cause a few upsets but inevitably it was Denmark and the Soviets who got through.

            For the 1990 World Cup our main challengers would be Spain and Hungary. Both were beaten at home and a point taken in Budapest was probably the deciding issue in the crunch games. Hungary were on the decline and some strange results in the other group games didn’t help them. Ireland qualified for their first World Cup finals after losing only one game.

            The 1994 World Cup saw Ireland installed as favourites to qualify for the finals along with Spain. Denmark were also in the shake up but again with only one defeat Ireland made it to the good old U S of A.

            The crunch games for Ireland in their bid to make a third successive finals were to be against Romania. Ireland lost narrowly in Bucharest and by the time they played in Dublin Romania had already book their place in France while Ireland had secured a play-off spot.

            2002’s World Cup crunch games were to be against Portugal and Holland and the group was decided when Holland came to Dublin and lost 0 – 1 to a Jason McAteer goal (you might remember that one). Ireland again got to the play-offs and won a place in the finals over Iran.

            In the last World Cup, Ireland were expected to compete with Switzerland and France for a place in the finals but Israel soon emerged as a contender also. All the teams were well in contention until France pulled off a remarkable victory in Dublin to seal their place in the finals along with Switzerland via the play-offs.

 

            So in all the crunch games Ireland have played they have never taken full points from their main group rivals. It hardly bears saying but if you can pick up any points from these encounters then you will be definitely in the shake up (barring the odd disaster against the minnows) but if you fail to get more then one point from your major group rivals then you can forget about the finals. Our crunch games for 2010 come against Bulgaria and Italy and the obvious message is not to lose the games. Draw all four games and you are still in the shake up but win or lose one and the group becomes catch up for either us or the rest. Here’s hoping for at least four points from the crunch ties against Bulgaria and Italy at the end of March and the start of April.

 

WC      Crunch game(s)          Results Home                        Away   Pts

1950    Sweden                       1 – 3                            1 – 3    0/4

1954    France                         3 – 5                            0 – 1    0/4

1958    England                       1 – 1                            1 – 5    1 /4

1962    None

1966    Spain                           1 – 0                            1 – 4    2/4 (1)

1970    None

1974    None

1978    Bulgaria                      0 – 0                            1 – 2    1 /4

            France                         1 – 0                            0 – 2    2/4

1982    Belgium                      1 – 1                            0 – 1    2/4

            France                         3 – 2                            0 – 2    2/4

            Holland                       2 – 1                            2 – 2    3 /4

1986    Denmark                    1 – 4                            0 – 3    0/4

            USSR                          1 – 0                            0 – 2    2/4

1990    Hungary                      2 – 0                            0 – 0    3 /4

            Spain                           1 – 0                            0 – 2    2/4

1994    Denmark                    1 – 1                            0 – 0    2/4

            Spain                           1 – 3                            0 – 0    1 /4

1998    Romania                     1 – 1                            0 – 1    1 /6 (2)

2002    Holland                       1 – 0                            2 – 2    4/6 (3)

            Portugal                      1 – 1                            1 – 1    2/6 (3)

2006    France                         0 – 1                            0 – 0    1/6

            Israel                          2 – 2                            1 – 1    2/6

            Switzerland                 0 – 0                            1 – 1    2/6

 

Ireland and Spain were ordered to play a deciding game in Paris which the Spanish won 1 – 0.

Ireland qualified for a play-off against Belgium which they lost 2 – 3 on aggregate.

Ireland qualified for a play-off with Ian which Ireland won 2 – 1 on aggregate and qualified for their third finals.