Northern Ireland v Austria

A SUMMER SIZZLER BACK IN ’82

Northern Ireland’s and Austria’s performances at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain both culminated in a run to the last 12 of the tournament and a second group phase meeting in Madrid – and it was a humdinger of a game.

Both nations took their place at Espana ’82 boasting some real star players in their ranks. Herbert Prohaska, who was subsequently voted Austria’s ‘Golden Player’ at the UEFA Jubilee Awards in 2004 and the Austrian Football Association’s Footballer of the (20th) Century a year later, was the standout name in the ‘Unsere Burschen’ (Our Boys) squad. Legendary goalkeeper Pat Jennings, midfielder Sammy McIlroy and then 17-year-old, uncapped Manchester United striker Norman Whiteside were included in Billy Bingham’s 22, meanwhile. A goal from Walter Schachner gave Austria – who were joint-managed by Felix Latzke and Georg Schmidt at the tournament – a 1-0 victory over Chile in their opening Group 2 Espana ’82 match while Northern Ireland started their campaign with a goalless draw with Yugoslavia in Group 5. Das Team made it two wins from two against Algeria and progressed to the second group phase prior to their third group game and an infamous 1-0 defeat to West Germany dubbed the ‘Disgrace of Gijón’. Northern Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Honduras was followed by Gerry Armstrong’s famous goal and the 1-0 victory over Spain in Valencia, as Bingham’s side made it through to the last 12. Austria and Northern Ireland were joined by France in the three-team Group D. After Austria lost 1-0 to France in the opening group fixture, they played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Northern Ireland at Atletico Madrid’s former Estadio Vicente Calderón on 1 July 1982. Billy Hamilton gave Northern Ireland a first half lead before Bruno Pezzey levelled for Austria five minutes after the break.

Billy Hamilton scored twice against Austria at the 1982 World Cup finals

Rienhold Hintermaier put the Austrians 2-1 up 18 minutes later before Hamilton’s second goal of the evening levelled things up with 15 minutes of the 90 remaining. A point from two matches saw Austria depart the tournament but, with one game remaining, Northern Ireland knew a victory over France would guarantee them top spot in Group D and a place in the World Cup semi-finals. Alas a Les Bleus side containing the likes of Michel Platini and Jean Tigana proved to be too tough an opponent for Bingham’s team and the French won 4-1 thanks to braces from Alain Giresse and Dominique Rocheteau. Gerry Armstrong got a second half consolation in the match in Madrid. Italy went on to win that summer’s World Cup with a 3-1 win over West Germany in the final, while France finished fourth. While Billy Bingham also, of course, led Northern Ireland to the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals, Northern Ireland have not made it to the tournament since, while post-1982 Austria have only appeared in two tournaments (1990 and 1998), in which they failed to progress beyond the group stage. Words Andy Greeves

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