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World Cup - Sweden 1958

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- Sweden 1958 - Spain 1982 - Mexico 1986 -


In 1958 Northern Ireland qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Finishing top of a qualifying group containing European giants Italy and Portugal, the Irish battled their way to the quarter-finals in Sweden - the smallest country ever to make it to the last eight of the World Cup...

Qualifying Group 8 (Europe)

16-01-1957 Portugal.. 1-1 N. Ireland [Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon]
25-04-1957 Italy..... 1-0 N. Ireland [Stadio Olympico, Rome]
01-05-1957 N. Ireland 3-0 Portugal.. [Windsor Park, Belfast]
26-05-1957 Portugal.. 3-0 Italy..... [Estádio Nacional, Lisbon]
22-12-1957 Italy..... 3-0 Portugal.. [San Siro, Milan]
12-01-1958 N. Ireland 2-1 Italy..... [Windsor Park, Belfast]

Rank
Team
Pts
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GAv
1
Northern Ireland
5
4
2
1
1
6
3
2.00
2
4
4
2
0
2
5
5
1.00
3
3
4
1
1
2
4
7
0.57



Finals
First Round - Group A
08-06-1958 N. Ireland ... 1-0 Czechoslovakia [Halmstad, Örjans Vall]
08-06-1958 West Germany.. 3-1 Argentina..... [
Malmö, Malmö Stadion]
11-06-1958 Argentina..... 3-1 N. Ireland ... [
Halmstad, Örjans Vall]
11-06-1958 West Germany.. 2-2 Czechoslovakia [
Hälsingborg, Olympiavalle]
15-06-1958 West Germany.. 2-2 N. Ireland ... [
Malmö, Malmö Stadion]
15-06-1958 Czechoslovakia 6-1 Argentina..... [
Hälsingborg, Olympiavalle]



Rank
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GAv
Pts
1
3
1
2
0
7
5
1.40
4
2=
Northern Ireland
3
1
1
1
4
5
0.80
3
2=
3
1
1
1
8
4
2.00
3
4
3
1
0
2
5
10
0.50
2

Play-Off
17-06-1958 N. Ireland 2-1 Czecho'kia [aet]
[Malmö, Malmö Stadion]

Quarter-Finals
19-06-1958 France.... 4-0 N. Ireland [Norrköping, Idrottsparken]

Squad of Players
No.
Pos
Name
Age
Club - Country)
1
GK 
25
Manchester United - ENG
2
DF 
 28
Leicester City - ENG
3
DF 
 30
Newcastle United - ENG
4
MD 
 32
Tottenham Hotspur - ENG captain
5
DF 
 25
Newcastle United - ENG
6
MD 
 29
Celtic - SCO
7
FW 
 26
Sunderland - ENG
8
MD 
 29
Leeds United - ENG
9
FW 
 28
Rangers - SCO
10
FW 
 26
Burnley - ENG
11
FW 
 24
Aston Villa - ENG
12
GK 
 30
Portsmouth - ENG
13
MD 
 28
Newcastle United - ENG
14
FW 
 24
Grimsby Town - ENG
15
FW 
 33
Southend United - ENG
16
FW 
 20
Portsmouth - ENG
17
FW 
 25
Nottingham Forest - ENG
18
GK 
25
Glenavon
19
DF 
32
Doncaster Rovers - ENG
20
MF 
20
Portsmouth - ENG
21
DF 
24
Linfield
22
FW 
??
Coleraine
* Did not travel to Sweden
Manager: Peter Doherty (Bristol City - ENG)
Trainer: Gerry Morgan.(Linfield)



The following are some of the players included in the initial squad of forty (if you can help to complete the list please get in touch):

Goalkeeper - Victor Hunter (Coleraine)
Backs - Paddy Corr (Glenavon), Tommy Lucas (Glentoran), Billy Marshall (Burnley), Billy Wilson (Linfield)
Forwards - John Crossan (Derry City), Jimmy Jones (Glenavon), Ed Nash (Derry City), Charlie Tully (Celtic), Jimmy Walker (Portadown)







The signed postcard above was sent from Sweden to site contributor George Glass by the 1958 squad. Tournament souvenir programme scan kindly forwarded by Tommy Don. For pictures of the individual match programmes click here. Stamp collection sourced by Clackity Films.


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