Mexico 1986
With the successful Spain 82 campaign and quite a few of the squad still involved, hopes were high for a second successive qualification. Northern Ireland were in European Group 3 alongside England, Romania, Finland and Turkey. It all got off to the worst possible start with a 1-0 defeat in Finland but home wins against Romania (3-2) and Finland (2-1) put us back on track. At Windsor Park, a Mark Hateley goal 13 minutes from time saw England remain in charge of the group. A home win and an away draw against the Turks kept us in the hunt but with two games remaining we needed to get a win and a draw to go through. The win was achieved against all the odds in Bucharest against Romania (1-0) and then we went to Wembley to face England needing a point. A 0-0 draw was enough on that November night in 1985 and Bingham’s boys were Mexico bound.
The Glentoran Connections:
Northern Ireland have qualified for 3 World Cup finals and Billy Bingham was involved in them all. As mentioned in part 2 of this short series, Bingham played in the 1958 finals in Sweden, featuring in all 5 games. He managed Northern Ireland to the finals in Spain in 1982 and was in charge again when we qualified for Mexico in 1986
Looking back at the 22 man squad which was selected for Mexico 1986 there are 4 names with Glentoran connections. David McCreery, also a member of the Spain 82 squad, was a brother of Rab and Ron, both of whom played for Glentoran. The 3rd choice goalkeeper in ’86 was Philip Hughes. Philip was at the Oval as a youth player before moving on to play for Leeds Utd, Bury, Wigan Athletic, Rochdale and Scarborough.
David McCreery Philip Hughes Mark Caughey
Striker Mark Caughey was a Linfield player when he was included for Mexico 86. Mark began his career at R.U.C. where he formed a great forward pairing with Gary Macartney. He moved to Linfield in 1985 and spent a season there before moving to Hibs. His other clubs included Hamilton and Burnley before joining Bangor. In 1992 Tommy Jackson brought him from Clandeboye Park to the Oval. In his one season with Glentoran Caughey scored 3 goals in his 19 appearances.
Alan McDonald joined QPR in 1979 as a youth player and made his first team debut against Crystal Palace in 1983. He remained at Queens Park Rangers where he was the mainstay of their defence until 1997. He finished his playing career with a season at Swindon Town. At International level, Alan McDonald won 52 caps for Northern Ireland and scored 3 goals. He initially came to Glentoran in a coaching capacity under Paul Millar but took over as manager of the club in 2007. He won the Co Antrim Shield in his first season in charge. The following year he brought the Irish Premiership title to Glentoran. He resigned as manager in the February of the following season after a poor run of form. Alan tragically died on the 23rd June 2012, collapsing on the golf course. He was 48
Group D
3rd June 1986 Algeria 1-1 Northern Ireland (Whiteside)
7th June 1986 Spain 2-1 Northern Ireland (Clarke)
12th June 1982 Brazil 3-0 Northern Ireland
Born in Canada, Terry Moore represented his country at the 1984 Olympic Games in LA and was a member of the Canadian World Cup squad at Mexico 86. Moore arrived at the Oval initially in 1978 but left for the USA and the North American Soccer League after just one season having playing just 26 games. In the States he played for San Diego Sockers, Tulsa Roughnecks and Tampa Bay Rowdies. Terry returned to Northern Ireland in 1984 and rejoined Glentoran where he played until his retirement from the game in 1992. He made 333 appearances for Glentoran and scored 12 goals. He took over the captaincy from Jim Cleary and won 1 League Championship and 3 Irish Cups.
Terry Moore played in 7 of Canada’s 8 World Cup qualifying games but in Mexico he had to be content with a place on the bench for all their games. Canada were in Group C in Mexico 1986 and lost all 3 games; 1-0 to France, 2-0 to Hungary and 2-0 to the Soviet Union.