A less than entertaining group in the 1990 World Cup saw England, Ireland and the Netherlands progress to the knockout stages of the tournament. But Ireland’s eventual route to the quarter-finals involved a twist or two along the way.
Philip Quinn, John Brennan and Paul Lennon joined the Saturday Panel to reminisce about some of their favourite World Cup memories and highlighted Ireland’s unique situation.
Ireland and the Netherlands finished with identical records in the group; three points, two goals scored and two goals conceded. Both teams went through because that year the best four third-place finishers qualified for the second-round.
“A game we remember for terrible reasons was West Germany v Holland when Frank Rijkaard spat at Rudi Voller,” Brennan said.
“Holland were only in that game because they lost the toss to us. We had to toss for that [second-round clash against Romania]. The two teams were going through but we had to toss for it; we got Romania and they got Germany.
“And then Rudi Voller and Frank Rijkaard decided to swap perms.”
FIFA’s number two, Sepp Blatter, arranged a ceremony in Rome to decide which team would finish in second and third place by way of picking coloured balls out of a goldfish bowl.
A World Cup hostess was then given the honour by Blatter to pull two balls out of the bowl. And that is how Ireland found themselves against Romania in the second-round rather than Germany. Packie Bonner owes that hostess a pint.
James Hopper
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