It was a dirty old night in Lansdowne the last time these two teams played
We won’t blame you for not remembering the last time Ireland played the US in football. It was in April 2002 and both teams were getting ready to take part in that summer’s World Cup in Japan/South Korea.
The weather, as you’ll sort of see in the very non-HD footage, was appalling, with huge puddles of water on the rain-soaked Lansdowne Road turf.
Ireland managed to win the game 2-1, thanks to a very acrobatic goal by Mark Kinsella and a late header by striker/defender Gary Doherty but the best bit of looking back at the footage of the game is the ESPN commentary.
This game was played long before the US became the bona fide soccer mad place it is today and the commentary reflects that, with lots of lines that the infamous Twitter account @USASoccerguy would be proud of.
Our personal favourite is the line for a fine save by Shay Given which is described as ‘his first denial of the evening’.
