Inside Track: Heartbreak for Hungary but it was worse for Holland

Hungary, in the first two alongside Portugal from the very start, must have thought they were on their way to next year’s World Cup finals as their concluding pool tie with the Republic of Ireland edged closer to the final whistle.

The Magyars were on level terms, and knowing a draw would be good enough for them to book a cross-Atlantic flight, had their eleven back defending.

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No need to remind anyone from this country, or indeed Hungary, what happened next. Troy the Boy netted his third to give Ireland a 3-2 victory, the winning move begun by goalie, Caoimhin Kelleher, with a long ball from out near the sideline.

Hungary were devastated, Ireland given hope when only a few weeks earlier there was very little of it about.

The draw for the finals was made at an overblown, tedious show a fortnight which had that great soccer aficionado, Donald Trump, on stage, and Rio Ferdinand telling us, more or less, that there’s no such thing as ‘soccer’.

(They say Trump was a right good player in his younger days. He was on the New York Cosmos books, and had it not been for the presence of Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer, would have had more than a handful of outings.

It maybe didn’t do his prospects any good, when, in one game in which he made the first eleven, playing against New York rivals, Apollo, he was marked out of it by Tommy McConville.)

Back to the draw. It’s ‘football’, Rio raged, seemingly unaware that he was in a country where there’s American Football, and in this green isle of ours, Gaelic Football. What England gave to the world is soccer. And the big race run at Liverpool each year is the Aintree Grand National.

And the big golf tournament played at a variety of courses is the British Open. And so on.

Ireland were in the draw, but won’t actually take part in the competition unless there’s a two-match win in a play-off going ahead in March. Also with their fingers crossed are Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland team, along with Wales.

Only one of the latter pair will make it, as they are in the same group; but England and Scotland are qualified, taking part in a competition which has been diluted with an increase in the number of qualifiers to 48.

The cream will undoubtedly rise to the top, but along the way, there’ll be meaningless games and huge dividing margins.

Games are to be played in three countries, and signs are that getting to see them is going to cost a lot of dough. Already the scalpers are out, bumping up the cost of flights for Ireland’s away match with the Czech Republic.

A reason why anyone travelling will need very deep pockets, or one of those golden pieces of thick plastic, is the cost of tickets.

The cheapest for the opening game in the United States is €478, and the minimum for the final is €1,730, with a seat close to Donald a mere €5,115.

Already, it’s been forecast to be the most expensive World Cup ever.

So, Hungary think they were hard done by, beaten by a half-length in racing terms? There was a closer finish than that, in the Euro ’84 qualifiers. Here, the two in the photo-finish were divided by the shortest of short heads.

It happened in Ireland’s group; but by the time the run for the line came around, Eoin Hand’s men were also-rans.

Spain, Holland and Malta were the other teams in the group, the latter the whipping boys. In the game with Ireland, the Malta goalie had to lick the ball out of the net eight times.

Holland didn’t score as many against the hapless Maltese, just five; but with just one game remaining – Spain against Malta – Frank Rijkaard’s side were odds-on to be certain of crossing the border with France for the finals. They were two points clear of Spain with a superior goal difference of +16

All of which meant Spain, on + 5 going into their last game, would have to score at least 12, and if they did, not concede more than one.

Bad and all as Malta’s record was, not only in these qualifiers but competing on the international stage for almost 40 years, they had never conceded more than nine.

Spain missed a penalty early on, and then after going in front, were hauled back to level terms. But after that, it rained goals, Spain bringing their total to 11 on 80 minutes. One more was needed, and who better than Senor to come up trumps, atoning for his penalty miss.

So, Hungary think they were hard done by? Whatever they do, they shouldn’t go to Holland looking for a shoulder to cry on. The Dutch had their pocket picked by Spain in a manner that would put Bill Sikes to shame.

Spain had more goal-difference luck in the Euro ’84 finals, just getting the better of neighbours, Portugal, in their group. That was it, however. When they got to the final, they found the hosts, France, two goals too good for them.