It's a Long, Long Way to Japan & Korea
08/04/02 | by Ade O'Connor

As the final whistle went in Tehran, I was on my belly on my sitting room floor, celebrating the imminent arrival of Ireland on football’s world stage. It’s hard to believe now, but three times previously Eire (as those in-the-know call us) were knocked out of competitions in the play-offs. Such a sickening series of blows: the Dutch before Euro ’96, the Belgians stopped us getting to the World Cup in France and then, the unkindest cut of all, the Turkish halted our progress before Euro 2000. Naturally as you can imagine, the feeling amongst supporters was one of great tension building up to the play-off, but let me cast your mind back, on the road to the World Cup.

You may already get the picture that this won’t be a compilation of detailed match reports. If you want such things, please leave with your Guardian reading ways. Instead, this look back will focus on the highs, the lows and the Guinness.

How many people gave Ireland a snowballs hope in hell of making the World Cup this time around? I certainly didn’t. Perhaps the toughest group we had been drawn in through years before us, it could only be the Irish that could ride their luck against two of the best teams in Europe. The draw was made live on Sky Sports News, Dave Clark beaming that we’d been given the group of death!

The Group:
Portugal
The Netherlands
Rep. of Ireland
Estonia
Cyprus
Andorra

Ireland had been punished for their play-off failures, narrowly missing out on being in Pot 2 and avoiding drawing two top quality sides such as the Dutch and the Portuguese. But this was our fate, you could argue that the bottom three sides, Estonia, Cyprus and Andorra, were all pretty much ‘gimmes’, so that’s 18 points in the bag, in theory. But can there be a case argued to enjoy the trips to Portugal and Holland, playing them on their own back yards? Certainly Mr McCarthy thought so, the scheme to play the Dutch and the Portuguese away first, within days of each other, was brave to be kind.

The Irish side were preparing for the game in Amsterdam at home in Dublin, however, the duo of Mark Kennedy and Phil Babb disgraced the team to an extent by being drunken in the city centre, neither of the pair was seen in an Ireland shirt until the later stages.

Thankfully, this story did not overshadow the kind of football Ireland were to play. Never before had I seen an Irish side play with such fluency and, probably most key of all, confidence. The much talked of abilities of the Dutch failed to materialise as, to be quite frank, they were out-played.

It was of no great surprise when Robbie Keane finally broke the deadlock with a terrific header - a 1-0 lead against all odds! You would expect then the true quality of the Dutch team to show through, but they remained on the back foot as the Irish pressed forward for a second. When Jason McAteer landed an unprecedented 2nd goal, I feel I was not alone on cloud nine as an Irish fan. A side that had struggled for so long with inferior players who kept on being called back, sorry Cascarino, had now grown with the fruit of the youngsters the nation was now producing.

Alas, with 70 mins gone, the Holland team woke up and decided to go to the races after all. In my opinion, you could argue that McCarthy invited them to come forward, by deploying very defensive tactics against a side with such an attacking force. The problem with defending against the Dutch is that you will be faced with an 8-man attacking force. The central midfielders push into the box, the wingers further forward, and the full backs assuming the wingers roles. It was all too predictable that this force would be too much, the Dutch grabbing one goal, and then a deflected goal to level the game. From there on in, it was die hard stuff by the Irish, Shay Given must have never seen so many shots flashed at his goal.

In the end, Ireland did enough, thank God. I felt that we might have held onto the lead, if only we hadn’t started our all-out defence tactic once 2-0 up. Maybe it would have been wiser to stick with the winning formula and press the Dutch wingbacks, into full backs positions, until it was 2-1 at least! Still, you had to feel that this was a match we did well to take a point from against all odds.

Oh well, at least we have the hard one out of the way, now onto the small fry of the Portuguese in Lisbon. This match proved to be make or break for Mick’s decision to play the two tough away fixtures first. To be fair to Portugal, in all honesty, for most of the match Eire were completely outclassed. When you find yourself up against class acts like Luis Figo and co, you know how good your team really is.

Portugal proved this point to the Irish side, by taking the lead through a Sergio Conceicao strike. Fortunately, the old adage about the ‘luck of the Irish’ gave us the rub of the green - Matt Holland of Ipswich with an amazing 30 yard screamer. We simply held on until the end of the game and thanked our friends in the sky.

So that was the two hardest games gone, and we didn’t get beaten - amazing! The only problem that was now standing in Ireland's way for the rest of the games was expectation, the next match versus the Estonians, would take Ireland back to Lansdowne Road.

Now for the Irish followed a series of matches which they simply had to win in order to build on the hard work they had done to hold both the Dutch and the Porks. The fans were on a real high and the media really expected big things from the team, who in all fairness eclipsed all the home nations counterparts thus far.

To even get close to qualifying from this group would be a real achievement. When it came down to it, one of Portugal, Holland and Ireland would not be going to the World Cup - a real loss to the tournament.

The Estonia match came and Eire gave them the respect they deserved and as a result came away with a 2-0 victory, the strikes from midfielder Mark Kinsella and centre back Richard Dunne proved enough.

It was a workmanlike performance by the team; there was no real need for skill or flair, as Estonia would simply attempt to break this down with a long ball structure. The Estonians were perfectly aware of what was required. Unfortunately for them, the Irish did not posses the arrogance to be turned over. So 3 games gone, 5 points amassed; although it does not sound particularly impressive, by examining the fixture list, it was more than acceptable.

The month of October yielded two matches; there would be no more until spring 2001, when the trip to Cyprus occurred. The Cypriots are not known for their footballing ability on the whole, however Mick McCarthy was quick to point out that they had gained a shock defeat of Spain not long ago, and it was all to obvious that Cyprus would be no pushovers.

Indeed, during the game at the GSP Stadium, there was more than a few causes for concern in defence, a better team would have punished the Irish boys. Luckily, Cyprus squandered time and time again. Nevertheless, the job was done in convincing fashion. Two quality goals from the rejuvenated captain Roy Keane, Gary Kelly getting a rare goal and then Ian Harte scoring from the 12 yard spot. This result did put the Irish top of the group, as the Portuguese and the Dutch were busy battling each other.

Another game Ireland had to win followed shortly afterwards, to the little known Andorra. Perhaps the very worst team in a strong group, if Ireland didn’t win this match, quite frankly, they would become a laughing stock. Yet Andorra refused to roll over until close to half time, when they conceded an Ian Harte penalty.

The part-timers did what Ireland always seem to struggle to break down - defending with 11 men behind the ball. It’s true that at no stage did Andorra really look to trouble the scorers in Barcelona’s Mini-stade, but Eire really made a mountain of them. After the half-time oranges and a rollicking from McCarthy no doubt, two goals followed, from Kevin Kilbane and Matthew Holland. This just about saved Irelands blushes.

April brought the return leg in Dublin. Needless to say, the gaffer took the opportunity to rest some tired legs, and those with a card next to their name. It was a depleted Ireland side, in front of a crowd which had little to cheer about. Ireland were lacklustre and in stages seemed to be under the false impression that the Andorrans would cave in to them. It wasn’t the case.

Ireland only awoke when they were shocked into action; the apparent superstar of Andorran football, Lima (he’s the only one I’ve ever heard of anyway), scored a goal that dropped jaws. If the score line had stayed 1-0 to the away side, Ireland would be in real trouble. Indeed it would be an outrage. Someone must have reminded the team of this immediately, sure enough within 30 seconds of the restart Mark Kinsella levelled the score.

A further 90 secs later, Ireland were in front thanks to another Kilbane goal. Gary Breen made the score more respectable for the Irish, by getting another goal from centre half. To be completely honest, Ireland were terrible, everything they didn’t need to be, complacent, lacklustre, and the rest. I dread to think of a repeat of that game against Liechtenstein, where Ireland managed to draw 0-0, not a great result.

But against Andorra, once again it was a job done. Not well done, but the record books say 3 points to the green team, and that’s all that matters. Now Ireland had tallied 14 points, much better than most expected after 6 games.

I was out of town for the next match - in southern France to be precise - but that didn’t dim my thoughts on Ireland.

We were now perilously close to making that trip to Japan and Korea, although out of the four games left to play, two were tricky home matches against Holland and Portugal. Up first was Portugal.

Safe in Finnegan’s Bar, I watched the football unfold fuzzily on the screen. Roy Keane caught me going to the toilet by scoring a half-decent goal - 1-0 to the green machine!

Ok, so it wasn’t the best goal he will ever score. Hell, it wasn’t the best goal I’ll ever score! Toe punt into the bottom corner, past the keeper.

But Ireland could almost smell the sushi! If the result stayed the same, you could book your tickets to Asia. Hold it, more to come. Luis Figo at the back post. The big cheat, as I commonly call him, burst Ireland's bubble just that little bit to even the score. Both teams from there-on-in had chances to win the game, possibly Portugal more than Ireland, but it finished a draw. I left the bar later, satisfied.

Shortly followed an opportunity for a great night out in a budding world city. I am, of course, talking about Tallinn. I just hope none of you have contacts with the Estonian mafia.

Roy Keane had picked up some sort of injury - Alex Ferguson on the telephone more than likely - not that it bothered Ireland too much. Estonia though were arguably the best of the other 3 in the group, but still Ireland despatched them 2-0. Richard Dunne had made a habit of scoring goals for Ireland, even though to that day he had never scored for his club!

Another of his golden strikes and coupled with Matt Holland; Ireland survived the trip for a victory. After the excursion to the popular holiday destination, Ireland had a record reading P8 W5 D3 L0. Not bad I thought, considering the teams in our group. It of course left us with a tally of 18 points, though this now meant that we were unlikely to be able to overtake Portugal, who looked to have the group in the bag.

Now onto the crowning moment of Ireland's whole campaign in my view. Perhaps overshadowed in the press by the dawning England v Germany match, this was a great game in its own right and told a fantastic story.

The Dutch started fast, very fast. Some lad they call Kluivert was impressive in the opening stages. How many times could he shave a post without the ball going in, I don’t know. But who cares?

The Dutch kept bombarding the Irish goal. Ireland really were being outplayed as the Dutch knew what they had to do, otherwise it would be curtains for them. It is fair to say that Ireland handicapped themselves a tiny bit by Gary Kelly getting himself sent off in the second half. Now the task was clear for Ireland, for the love of god, don’t conceed a goal!

Now if I were a director, I would fire Jason McAteer as he clearly didn’t read the script.

Read this bit carefully ladies and gentlemen, for this is the moment which Irish football may never forget. It’s up there with O’Leary’s classic penalty and all.

Steve Finnan moves forward, dances into the box, finds himself up against a centre back, delivers a cross into the danger zone towards Damien Duff, Duff misses the ball, being out-muscled by the Dutch defence, but the ball drops over their heads. Jason McAteer at the back post hits a sweet shot across the goal and into the top corner on the half volley - UNBELIEVABLE!

The dream was on, the chance was there. Could Ireland hold on with 10 men and defeat the Dutch - need I tell you?

Try as they might, whichever god was looking down on the green machine that day must like Guinness. The Dutch had fallen! This fantastic result meant that Ireland had done enough to ensure a play-off spot, as they could no longer be caught by Holland. The World Cup dream was alive.

Believe it or not, all that stood between Ireland and the World Cup was Cyprus and some Asian outfit. First of all, the last game of the group stages, Cyprus at Lansdowne Road.

Once again the Cypriots gave a decent account of themselves. However Ireland did not allow them so much time on the ball at home and as a result, chances were scarce for the Cypriots. Team Kyrpos was eventually cut down 4-0, with goals from Ian Harte, Niall Quinn, David Connolly and Roy Keane. Quinn’s goal ensured that he had broken Frank Stapleton’s goal scoring record of 20, as he grabbed his 21st goal in an Ireland shirt with a typical Niall header.

All of this meant that Ireland were now put into the play-offs, as Portugal despatched the Estonians with ease, making sure of their place in the tournament. To be precise, Ireland’s task would be a two-legged tie versus Iran.

The home leg came first and the Irish looked to win the tie at home, before the difficult task of travelling the Asadi Stadium in Tehran. It was important that Ireland did not lose this game first of all, and it would be a boost if they managed to withstand any attacking pressure and keep a clean sheet. Both objectives were resoundingly achieved. First of all, Ireland broke the duck in the play-off, taking the lead once more with a well struck Ian Harte penalty.

His goals in this campaign had been so vital towards Ireland's progress. Without such a reliable man from the spot, it might have been a different story. Robbie Keane then capitalised on another Ireland chance and took the score to 2-0, but questions still remained as to whether it would be enough in front of the partisan crowd in the Asadi Stadium.

So this is what it had all boiled down to, one match. For Ireland's hard work in the first leg, they had a two-goal advantage. But one massive sign in the crowd simply reading “3-0” proved that the Iranians had not given up hope.

Indeed Iran were not to be overrun in the match, playing an interesting brand of Asian football which will prove to be successful in later years no doubt. However, the Irish had worked too hard to throw it away now.

In a game like this, Ireland needed real old heads, real experience to guide the youngsters. Unfortunately Roy Keane and Niall Quinn were unable to play, but the Irish side still featured some heavily capped players. It was really a war of attrition in Tehran. In front of 80,000 fans, Ireland held firm and hung on until injury time. It now looked beyond Iran, but a corner in the very last minute of the game saw Ireland's 17-match unbeaten streak come to an end, as an Iranian mouthful (Yahya Golmohammadi) headed in.

But as soon as the restart took place, the final whistle was blown. Finally, the whole nation could celebrate and Ireland were once again in a major tournament.

That’s where the story ends as far as the Road to the World Cup is concerned, although there were some impressive displays in friendlies against Russia and Denmark. It is now left to Mick McCarthy to pick the men to lead the charge in Asia.

Much is expected of the Irish. After all, you can rely on the media to build up a team to be world-beaters. But rest assured, Ireland won’t win the World Cup, not by a long shot, but you can bet that the Green Machine are going to go at every team they face, starting with Cameroon. Much anxiety can be held over the possibility of Ireland making it to the second round, but me, like many other fans, are just happy to be there in Japan & Korea 2002.