February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Northern Ireland got off to a flying start under new manager Sammy McIlroy last Wednesday, topping Luxembourg 3-1 in the former Manchester United star’s coaching debut.
The win in Luxembourg ended a string of disappointing results for the North, who won only one match during the Euro 2000 qualifiers under McIlroy’s predecessor, Lawrie McMenemy.
David Healy, a reserve forward with Manchester United, was the Irish hero on the night with two goals. James Quinn (88th) was the other scorer.
Healy’s first goal came after 21 minutes on a pass from Keith Gillespie. He restored the North’s advantage in the 47th minute, after Manuel Cardoni (43rd) had leveled for the home side.
Despite their complete dominance in the second half, the visitors were unable to increase their lead until Quinn’s late strike.
Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter
With an eye on the 2002 World Cup qualifiers beginning in the spring, McIlroy made sure he gave his entire bench a run, making a total of seven substitutions.
The North, who finished second last (1-2-5) in a European Championship qualifying group comprising Germany, Turkey, Finland and Moldova, face an equaling daunting path to the 2002 World Cup finals to be co-hosted by Japan and Korea.
They’ll face the formidable Czech Republic, who are currently ranked second in the world behind Brazil by FIFA, 1992 European champs Denmark, Bulgaria, Iceland and Malta in Group 3.
The Czech Republic had the best record in the Euro qualifiers, winning 10 straight matches before crashing 3-2 to the Republic of Ireland in a friendly at Lansdowne Road last Wednesday.
Dutch Masters
In other friendly matches on the continent last Wednesday, Euro 2000 co-hosts Holland spoiled German skipper Lothar Matth’us’s world record 144th international cap with a 2-1 victory in Amsterdam.
Patrick Kluivert (14th) and Boudewijn Zenden (26th) connected for the Dutch, one of the Republic’s World Cup qualifying rivals, while Christian Ziege (21st) replied for Germany.
Holland’s co-hosts, Belgium, drew 1-all with Portugal in Charleroi. Ricardo Sa Pinto (80th) scored during a goalmouth scramble to cancel out Branko Strupar’s earlier goal (56th) for the Belgians.
Wembley Requiem
At Wembley Stadium in London, England and Argentina failed to produce any of the sparks from their tempestuous France ’98 second round clash two years ago, in a tepid goalless on a night overshadowed by the death of English legend Sir Stanley Matthews.
Poles Zapped
France’s World Cup m’stro Zinedine Zidane struck in the 88th minute to lead the world champions to a 1-0 victory over Poland in Paris.
In Palermo, an Alessandro Del Piero penalty with 10 minutes to give Italy its first win in five attempts over Sweden, ahead of their June 19 meeting in the European Championship.
Results
Other friendly results were: Croatia 0, Spain 0; Isr’l 4 Russia 4-1; Turkey 0, Norway 2; Yugoslavia 2, Macedonia 1; Greece 4, Austria 1, and Hungary
0, Australia 3.