Ireland Qualifies for World Cup for First Time

Ireland, managed by Jack Charlton, who helped England win the World Cup in 1966, reached the final round of international soccer’s big show for the first time Wednesday and West Germany qualified for the 10th consecutive time.

John Aldridge scored two goals as Ireland won at Malta, 2-0, ensuring that it would be one of 24 teams in the tournament next summer in Italy. Ireland qualified from Group 6, along with Spain, which beat Hungary, 4-0.

Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Romania, Scotland and the Soviet Union also qualified Wednesday, the busiest day on the 2 1/2-year World Cup qualifying schedule. Twenty-one of the 24 spots have been filled.

Three more nations will qualify this weekend. Algeria will play at Egypt on Friday for one spot and the final two will be determined Sunday when the United States plays Trinidad and Tobago at Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Cameroon plays at Tunisia.

Before Wednesday’s games, 13 nations qualified--Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, England, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Yugoslavia.

In Wednesday’s play, Romania cliched the top spot in Group 1 by upsetting Denmark, 3-1. The Danes missed out altogether when West Germany qualified as the second-place team in Group 4 by beating Wales, 2-1.

Austria beat East Germany, 3-0, and the Soviets beat Turkey, 2-0, for the two spots in Group 3; the Netherlands, defending European champion, beat Finland, 3-0, for the Group 4 title; Scotland’s 1-1 tie with Norway clinched second place and a berth in Group 5 and Czechoslovakia clinched the second spot from Group 7 with a scoreless tie against Portugal.