Italy 0-1 Republic of Ireland
USA 1994 | Group E
Giants Stadium, East Rutherford
Attendance: 75,338
Republic of Ireland goal: Ray Houghton (11)
Teams
Italy
Coach: Arrigo Sacchi
XI: Gianluca Pagliuca; Mauro Tassotti, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini; Roberto Donadoni, Demetrio Albertini, Dino Baggio, Alberico Evani; Roberto Baggio, Giuseppe Signori.
Substitutions: Daniele Massaro for Evani (46), Nicola Berti for Signori (84)
Republic of Ireland
Coach: Jack Charlton
XI: Pat Bonner; Denis Irwin, Paul McGrath, Phil Babb, Terry Phelan; Ray Houghton, Roy Keane, John Sheridan, Andy Townsend, Steve Staunton; Tommy Coyne
Substitutions: Jason McAteer for Houghton (68), John Aldridge for Coyne (90)
Hitherto head-to-head record
7 Italy wins
0 draws
0 Ireland wins
Going into the game
The opening game in Group E saw a rematch of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Italy™ quarter-final. While the Italians had home advantage in that Rome rumble, the Republic of Ireland faithful sought to turn the tables at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium, as an estimated two-thirds of the crowd cheered on the The Boys in Green.
The Irish were in fine fettle going into the encounter after hugely impressive wins and clean sheets in the Netherlands and Germany in the pre-tournament friendlies.
Italy, meanwhile, were one of the tournament favourites after agonisingly falling to Argentina on home soil in the semi-finals four years prior. They lined up with what history will view as one of the world’s greatest central defensive partnerships, with Franco Baresi and Alessandro Costacurta manning the Azzurri backline.
The game
It took the Irish just 11 minutes to stun the Italians and turn the stadium into a frenzied mass of celebration after 32-year-old Ray Houghton opened the scoring. The Scottish-born midfielder was already an Ireland legend after scoring a famous headed goal in Stuttgart at the UEFA EURO in 1988 against England and his high shot seemed to deceive Italy goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca as the ball looped over his head and into the net.
Italy desperately fought back with Giuseppe Signori and Roberto Baggio their main danger men, but they came up against a 34-year-old Paul McGrath having one of the finest games of his storied career, as he snuffed out Azzurri attacks time and time again. In fact, it was Ireland who had the best chance when Roy Keane intelligently cut the ball back for John Sheridan whose effort clipped the bar on its way over. McGrath headed away one final Italian ball into the area before the full-time whistle prompted emotional Irish celebrations as they hailed their first-ever win at the tournament finals.
Quotes
“We knew it would be a big game. We played Italy in the 1990 World Cup four years earlier and, if you look through their team from that day, there wasn’t many who were still playing in 1994. The goal was a long punt up the field. Franco Baresi got his head on it, but it wasn’t a great header. I was able to collect it on my chest and I thought, ‘Just hit it, why not? It’s the World Cup.’ I looked at it initially and thought it was going over the bar. Then another look: ‘Oh, it’s going in…’ Next thing, Terry Phelan and Roy Keane are over-celebrating with me. That’s the magic of football.”
Ray Houghton
“History has been made in the Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Another chapter in Jack Charlton’s managerial career, the Republic of Ireland have beaten Italy for the very first time, and Jack Charlton’s victory in his 79th international in charge is surely one of the biggest he has ever achieved.”
George Hamilton
“Jack Charlton tapped me on the shoulder before the game and said: “Do you know you are the only Italian here today….”
Tony Cascarino
“We got a result off the Italians, the first time we ever got a result off them. We beat them. Terrific. For a country the size of Ireland to beat Italy, well it doesn’t happen very often, does it? It was very special and probably surpasses all my playing achievements in terms of emotion.”
Jack Charlton
Stats
There were two players on each side who were the ripe old age of 34 – Franco Baresi and Mauro Tassotti for the Italians and Pat Bonner and Paul McGrath for Ireland. The youngest player on the pitch was Dino Baggio, who was a month younger than Roy Keane at 22.
McGrath won a remarkable 15 headers during the match, while also making six clearances and five interceptions.
All of Italy’s players played in their homeland, with seven playing for reigning UEFA Champions League winners AC Milan. The Irish, for their part, had nine players from the English leagues and two from Scotland in their starting XI.
Houghton’s strike was only Ireland’s third goal at the FIFA World Cup. Despite reaching the quarter-finals in their first tournament four years earlier, they had only scored two goals in five games – Kevin Sheedy against England and Niall Quinn against the Netherlands.
