After what Biffer Spice said I can’t not say anything else.
I’m amazed at how I could forget so many great matches but I can still appreciate good football by opposing teams even if I hate them all with a passion.
To reafirm my patriotism I will include two great Irish performances. When we beat the English in Stuttgart in '88 was one of the best Irish performances ever. It was our first match in a major tournament ever and we were in a group with the Netherlands, Russia and England. Ray Houghton’s goal in the 8th minute (I think) and to hold out for the rest of the game was an amazing achievement. We then drew in against Russia (a match we should have won) and then narrowly lost to the Dutch.
Fast forward to 1994 and the World Cup in the States and our first match was against Italy (one of the favourites for the Cup). Once more it was Ray Houghton who scored the winning goal for us.
I can’t believe I left out Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Liverpool in the last minute of the last match of the season in 1989 which gave us the championship on goals scored!! Michael Thomas’ goal is etched in my memory for ever. (It was this goal that made me jump in the bandwagon and support Arsenal ever after. I was 9 at the time)
I’m sure there are more I have left out but all the americans are probably getting bored with this ‘soccer’ (its FOOTBALL!!!) talk.