WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : PROBLEMS AT HOME

Coach Jack Charlton tried to interrupt the work of Giants Stadium police, who were dealing with euphoric supporters of Ireland after a 1-0 victory over Italy:

“The police were doing their job, but I just tried to say to them that no one was trying to assassinate anybody. There was no need for brutality.”

Wrote reporter Rob Hughes, referring to the shooting of six people in a pub in the village of Loughinisland in County Down, south of Belfast: “(Charlton) could not have known that, even as he spoke, there were dead and dying back in Ireland, the work of maniacs picking their victims among people who merely wanted to share the joy of arguably the greatest result in the history of a nation that, with just 3.6 million people, had the smallest population of any at these finals.”