Jaisus, de doom and de gloom! We should all give up now, wha?Originally posted by Sheridan
Hope I’m wrong of course, but…
When was the last time Ireland actually BEAT a serious contender away from home? Their record over the past few campaigns runs as follows:
2004 ECQ: Russia 4-2 Ireland
2002 WCQ: Iran 1-0 Ireland, Portugal 1-1 Ireland, Netherlands 2-2 Ireland
2000 ECQ: Turkey 0-0 Ireland, Croatia 1-0 Ireland, Yugoslavia 1-0 Ireland
1998 WCQ: Belgium 2-1 Ireland, Romania 1-0 Ireland (Lithuania 1-2 Ireland hardly counts, although Lithuania were in contention. They lost 1-6 at home to Hungary a few campaigns later…)
1996 ECQ: Portugal 3-0 Ireland, Austria 3-1 Ireland
1994 WCQ: Spain 0-0 Ireland, Denmark 0-0 Ireland.
1992 ECQ: Poland 3-3 Ireland, England 1-1 Ireland
1990 WCQ: Hungary 0-0 Ireland, Spain 2-0 Ireland
1988 ECQ: Bulgaria 2-1 Ireland, Scotland 0-1 Ireland, Belgium 2-2 Ireland
Finally! Although…does this really count? Scotland were certainly a good side, but Belgium and Bulgaria were both stronger teams. Anyway, if we take this as our cut-off point, it’s still fairly depressing. Sixteen years since Ireland beat a major team away from home. And if we keep going, we don’t find another comparable victory until the 2-1 win away to Czechoslovakia in 1967!
All bad things must come to an end. Even the North have to score a goal again sometime...
PP
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