Today I'm going back 28 years to 1994 and the USA World Cup Group E match between the Republic of Ireland and Norway played at the Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey in front of 72,404. The location of the stadium was officially described by FIFA as being in New York/New Jersey and, to be fair, wasn't very far over the boundary line of the two states. On the day, we caught one of those bright yellow school buses to the game from a bus station in the centre of the Big Apple. School buses are in plentiful supply in North America and were an ideal means of transporting fans to the stadia.
The official programme shown was one of four issued during the tournament and this one included the "final rosters" (squad names) for all the participants as opposed to the more expensive "Official Championship" edition printed before squads were finalised. I have all four programmes and this one was the least expensive at $5.
Ireland's side on the day was perhaps their strongest line-up ever at a World Cup and contained Packie Bonner, ooh ah Paul McGrath, Steve Staunton, Roy Keane, Andy Townsend, Ray Houghton and John Aldridge. Manager Jackie Charlton was absent from the Irish bench due to a touchline ban served on him following an argument with an official in Ireland's previous game against Mexico. Stalwart Assistant Maurice Setters filled in for Charlton on the touchline. Setters playing career began in 1954 and finished in 1970 and, in total, he made 508 club appearances scoring 36 goals from midfield. His clubs included West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United, Stoke City and Coventry City. Setters never appeared for England but was included in the provisional selection for the 1958 World Cup before failing to make the final cut. Amongst other things, Setters featured as Best Man at Bobby Charlton's wedding in 1961.
For once, this final Group game was crucial to the fortunes of both sides. A win for either side would have taken them through and, due to the complicated arrangement for sides finishing in third place in their Group, neither could be certain that a draw would be enough to take the through. Ireland had so far beaten Italy 1-0 and then lost to Mexico 1-2 whilst Norway had beaten the Mexicans 1-0 before losing to Italy 0-1. With so much at stake and with both sides seemingly taking the view that it was better to avoid defeat than to actually win the game, we ended up with a fairly turgid game of relatively few clear cut chances. In the end it finished goalless.
Group E remains the only Group in World Cup history where all four participants finished on equal points with identical records of one win, one draw and one defeat. All four also had an equal goal difference and the Group was decided on goals scored with Mexico finishing first having scored (and conceded) three times, whilst Ireland and Italy scored twice with eliminated Norway having scored just once. Ireland's second place over Italy came as a result of the head to head result between the teams when Ireland proved to be shock 1-0 winners in East Rutherford. Third placed Italy nevertheless qualified for the knockout phase as one of the four third placed teams with the best records. In the Round of 16 Ireland would go on to lose 2-0 to Holland in Orlando, Florida. Italy meanwhile made light of their poor Group stage showing by winning all the way through to the Final before succumbing to World Champions Brazil on penalties after another goalless draw.
CRB Match No. 899
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