10-11-2015, 06:23 PM
(10-11-2015, 06:07 PM)Morph Wrote: Didn't realise northern Ireland had such an easy group, fucking hell.
Historically though, they might be world football's greatest overachievers, bar none. They've only got 1.8m people, have a pub league, and yet:
- Qualified in 1958 by eliminating Italy and Portugal. Then got out of a group containing World Champions West Germany, Argentina and Czechoslovakia, and did it playing open, sexy football
- Qualified in 1982, then topped a first round group containing hosts Spain
- Qualified in 1986, after beating West Germany home and away in Euro 84 qualifying
- Beat England, Sweden and Spain under Lawrie Sanchez: the last of those the very match which precipitated Spain's historic sea change to keep-ball tiki taka
- Topped their qualifying group here
It's an incredible record. They should really have had no chance of ever doing anything. Quite the reverse though.