WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Ireland Matches Its Fans’ Vigor : Group E: Buoyed by unexpectedly partisan crowd, Irish stun Italy, 1-0, on Houghton’s goal in 12th minute.
Irish eyes were wet Saturday, their faces red, their throats sore, their spirit overwhelming.
For two hours at Giants Stadium, 22 overmatched soccer players and about 50,000 fans transformed foreign soil into a home field.
The results could be heard from here to County Cork.
Hustling and tackling with the same fervor as their countrymen sang and chanted, Ireland upset Italy, 1-0, in a first-round World Cup game before 74,826.
“Ole, ole,” said Ireland Prime Minister Albert Reynolds, mimicking the Irish fan’s favorite chant. “The carnival in Dublin has begun. We will be partying until Monday.”
The Italians are behaving as if there might not be a Monday. The loss stunned the players to their knees while representing the worst fears of their country of critics.
“Now, we suffer much,” goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca said.
Italian forward Roberto Baggio, the 1993 player of the year, already has suffered much.
After Ray Houghton intercepted a header and scored in the 12th minute, the defense went to work on Baggio.
For the rest of the afternoon they did everything but drag him around by his ponytail.
They kicked him. They shoved him. They introduced him to that lovely English phrase, “half nelson.”
“Yes, I think we intimidated them a little bit,” lead enforcer Paul McGrath said.
Baggio still managed five shots, more than any other two players in the game combined. But he spent much of the game with his palms upturned and his eyes skyward.
The Italians had possession of the ball most of the time but, amid 91-degree temperatures and thick humidity, only the Irish were left standing.
“We can’t shoot because we couldn’t beat their trapping and pressing,” Baggio said.
He couldn’t beat their fans, either, particularly the large man with green hair and a bare chest who nearly tackled Baggio on the field after the game.
Andy Townsend, Ireland midfielder, attempted to persuade police to release the man. He even gave the fan a hug.
“The fans here gave us an absolutely fantastic lift,” Townsend said. “You think about playing in America, you think about it being an ‘away’ game. But today we realized, not for us.”
With nearby New York City boasting a larger Italian population, it was thought that the Irish fans would be barely noticed. But that notion was dispelled when they arrived four hours early and papered the stadium with the tri-colored banners.
The emotion of their constant songs carried down to the field, where the Irish were appearing in only their second World Cup finals, against a team that has won as many World Cup championships--three--as any.
The victory means that the Irish have a good chance of surviving their difficult group--which includes Norway and Mexico--and advancing to the round of 16.
“But this lets everyone know--and reaffirms it in our own minds--that we are a team to deal with,” veteran defender Kevin Moran said.
In several ways.
If this game was any indication, teams know now that they will not be in better shape than the Irish.
After training for two weeks in the heat of Orlando, the Irish were so strong that half of them didn’t even request water in the first half.
Also, teams should know if they let the Irish take a lead, they should run to the sidelines for extra pads.
According to Italian Coach Arrigo Sacchi, who will be lucky if he still has a job next month, his team became overwhelmed when Ireland Coach Jack Charlton moved Roy Keane from midfield to the defensive line after the first goal.
“That goal took us by surprise, and then they increased their defense and kept us off base the rest of the game,” he said.
Finally, in keeping with a certain stereotype, teams should now wonder whether they can out-luck the Irish.
Their goal came on their only legitimate shot. And even that occurred only after legendary defender Franco Baresi carelessly headed a ball to an empty space that quickly was filled by Houghton.
As surprised as anyone, Houghton swung his left foot at the loose ball and somehow lifted it over Pagliuca and into the net.
It will comfort the Italians much to learn that Houghton is right-footed.
‘It was a very good goal by Ray . . . although I don’t know if he meant it,” Charlton said.
When later told the Italians called it an ugly goal, Houghton laughed.
“Any goal is a pretty goal,” he said. “Our country was already pretty excited about it. This victory is going to send them through the roof.”
He certainly meant that.
