Another sad fact

In the past 40 years, Ireland have only three away wins against countries who previously qualified for a major tournament; Scotland in 1987, Turkey in 1991 and Northern Ireland in 1994.

Originally Posted by bwagner

In the past 40 years, Ireland have only three away wins against countries who previously qualified for a major tournament; Scotland in 1987, Turkey in 1991 and Northern Ireland in 1994.

slow day in work eh?

Originally Posted by bwagner

In the past 40 years, Ireland have only three away wins against countries who previously qualified for a major tournament; Scotland in 1987, Turkey in 1991 and Northern Ireland in 1994.

Has some relevence in that we'll need to defy precedent and win away in the Autumn to keep ourselves at least in the running this time around.

Sad but well know fact.

In two of those campaigns we went on to qualify and in the Turkey one, we lost out by a whisker to England because of draws at home.

Nothing there that hasn't been posted dozens of times already. We haven't had a significant away win since 1987, and we barely had any away wins bar Cyprus and Malta and their ilk before that, so what exactly is new information?

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Sad but well know fact.

In two of those campaigns we went on to qualify and in the Turkey one, we lost out by a whisker to England because of draws at home.

And because a ref didn't penalise Chris woods for an obvious foul in the box in Poland.

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

And because a ref didn't penalise Chris woods for an obvious foul in the box in Poland.

Don't mention flapper Woods to me

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

And because a ref didn't penalise Chris woods for an obvious foul in the box in Poland.

And we were robbed for a penalty against Poland at home when niall quinn was held back in the box

Sorry lads but im having the most boring and long day of my work life.
I know that is has been documented before but dear god we need to change this fast. We gota win against the czechs to have a chance in hell of going to Austria/Swittzerland

Scotland in 1987, Turkey in 1991 and Northern Ireland in 1994.

stutts, you are the actuary, the maths genius, there must be some logic here. 4 years apart for the first two, and we both qualify for a world cup/major event 3 years later...

Old ground and disussed many times - but should have beaten England at Wembley in 91.

My brother attended the FAI soccer school in the early 90's and Ray Houghton was the coach.

One day a "Question and Answers" session took place with the lads attending directing questions at Ray.

One kid asked this:

"How did you feel when you missed the opener against England?"



To his credit, even Ray had to laugh.

Turkey finished bottom of the group in 1991 without a point and their only goal was in their 3-1 defeat to us. It was not the equivalent of beating Turkey today. We actually should have won in Poland a month earlier having lead 3-1 (should have been 5 or 6) and throwing the game away. We also should have won at Wembley. The English Sun reckoned it should have been 3-1 to Ireland and you know how pro irish they normally are.

The win at Hampden was a key win against a decent Scottish side. NI finished level on points with us despite our 4-0 win at Windsor.

We haven't had a decent away win in continental Europe since 1967. That was 2-1 in Prague v Czechoslovakia. We can beat them separately in September to repeat the feat..

We haven't had a decent away win in continental Europe since 1967. That was 2-1 in Prague v Czechoslovakia. We can beat them separately in September to repeat the feat..

what a savage one to throw up, is that the best one, its 40 years ago too, is that an omen?

Originally Posted by bwagner

In the past 40 years, Ireland have only three away wins against countries who previously qualified for a major tournament; Scotland in 1987, Turkey in 1991 and Northern Ireland in 1994.

Do you mean away wins in competitive matches only (ECQ, WCQ), or does this also include friendly away wins?

You got me thinking about NI's record in the same period, and I have* to say it's rather happier. For competitive matches, we've beaten:
WCQ - Turkey 1968 (0-3)
ECQ - Sweden 1974 (0-2)
ECQ - Bulgaria 1978 (0-2)
ECQ - West Germany 1983 (0-1)
WCQ - Romania 1985 (0-1)
ECQ - Austria 1994 (1-2)

May I add to that our 1-0 victory in the 1982 WC Finals over Spain, on the basis that it was in Spain, or does that count as a "neutral" venue?

Technically speaking, the British Championships were also "competitive" matches (well, competition, at least), so that might add victories in Scotland (1971, 1973, 1974), England (1972) and Wales (1980).

And if we include friendlies, that adds Israel (1968), Australia (twice in 1980) and, ahem, ROI (1999).

So if that's competitive ECQ/WCQ matches only, the tally is 6, or 7 if including Spain in the WCF's, or 12 if including the BC, or 16 if counting all senior internationals.


* - OK, I don't actually have to say it, but I do quite enjoy doing so...

In the past 40 years, Ireland have only three away wins against countries who previously qualified for a major tournament; Scotland in 1987, Turkey in 1991 and Northern Ireland in 1994.

And the thing is, that was a poor Turkey and a poor Northern Ireland team we beat. Soon we can add the Czechs to that list Or is that just very wishful thinking on my part

Originally Posted by gspain

their only goal was in their 3-1 defeat to us. t..

Defeat by........loss to This defeat "to" drives me bananas. I think it's come from the USA

Yes, Norn Iron have a far better record away from home against the bigger teams. That said we used to get regular draws away from home but could seldom squeeze out the win.

Its not going to change anytime soon IMO.

Well maybe. Wales qualified for the WC in 1958, though, didn't they?

Originally Posted by Torn-Ado

Wales qualified for the WC in 1958, though, didn't they?

Indeed, BWagner can add Wales to his list; in fact, not only did they qualify in 1958, but they got to the Quarter Finals.

That said, they were very lucky to qualify. For that tournament, 9 European teams had to qualify from 27 countries i.e. the winner only from nine groups of three. Wales finished second in their Group behind Czechoslovakia.

However, by a quirk of luck, FIFA had determined that no team could qualify without having played at least one game (as had happened in the past), and none of the other teams drawn against Israel from the Asian/African Confederations (Turkey, Indonesia, Sudan) would agree to play them.

Therefore, it was agreed that Israel could have the chance to qualify by playing one of the European teams which had finished second. Belgium actually came out of the hat first, but declined the offer for some reason, and jammy Wales were next out! (They beat Israel 2-0 home and away)

As it happens, the ROI finished second in their Qualifiers, behind England and ahead of Denmark. Scotland topped their Group ahead of Spain and Switzerland, and NI finished ahead of Italy and Portugal in their Group, no less!
(We beat Italy and Portugal at home and drew with Portugal away to qualify, this being the only World Cup ever where Italy have failed to qualify)

Curiously, this was also the only World Cup where all four "Home" teams qualified, yet it was only the two "minnows", Wales and NI, who got to the Quarter Finals, England and Scotland having gone home early!

Happy Days (or so I'm told)

Originally Posted by EalingGreen

Do you mean away wins in competitive matches only (ECQ, WCQ), or does this also include friendly away wins?

And if we include friendlies, that adds Israel (1968), Australia (twice in 1980) and, ahem, ROI (1999).

We've (Ireland) actually picked up some decent away wins in friendlies.

We beat Holland away and Germany away in friendlies on the lead up to the World Cup in 94. Which meant we'd beaten Holland, Germany and Italy between March and June 0f 2004.

In more recent times, a Robbie Keane cracker against Holland in June 2004 notched up another friendly away win against the Dutch.

Originally Posted by Wolfie

We've (Ireland) actually picked up some decent away wins in friendlies.

NOBODY places as much importance in friendlies as we have in the last couuple of decades (except maybe engerlund who get lambasted if they underperform in these totally uninspiring sterile affairs).