“All these places feel like home” – Snow Patrol.
This weekend sees, remarkably the first ever match at full men’s level between Northern Ireland and the United States of America. Down the years, it is hard to fathom that these two countries have never met before. It’s a staggering statistic for a football geek like me. USA have played Scotland, Wales, England and Republic of Ireland. Wales have never beaten USA. USA are unbeaten in their last 6 matches with Scotland. England have played USA twice at World Cups and never beaten them. Let’s not forget – the USA were semi finalists in the first ever World Cup – 1930 in Uruguay. A 5-1 hammering to Czechoslovakia at Italia 90 might have been embarrasing but the USA are certainly no pushovers in the game they call football. Soccer, let’s not forget, doesn’t exist.
Fully erect: John Kowalski, P. J. Johns, Ted Eck, Mike Windschmann, Jeff Agoos, Dale Ervine, Victor Nogueira, Ron Newman.
Bended: Jim Gabarra, George Fernandez, Andy Schmetzer, Fernando Clavijo, Hernan Borja.
Despite the fact that this is the historic first meeting, tomorrow night on Sunday 28th March 2021 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, there are MANY links down the years between the two countries. Notably, if Northern Ireland are at the World Cup, the USA will not be.
USA born players have played in Northern Ireland, a USA born player has even played for Northern Ireland (Billy Andrews – 6 caps, 3 goals!), many Northern Irishmen have played club football in the USA (George Best, Colin Clarke, Steve Morrow, Jonny Steele and so on).
Northern Ireland in the USA
Northern Ireland have played a lot of matches IN the United States of America, but not AGAINST the United States of America! Here are just a few…
1994 – Mexico, Colombia.
2006 – Uruguay, Romania.
2010 – Turkey.
But until tomorrow, they’re unmet.
“We’ll support you evermore” – Northern Ireland fans.
Northern Ireland players that sound like they could be in USA
Billy Hamilton, Gary Hamilton (Hamilton)
Peter Kennedy, Matty Kennedy (Kennedy)
Conor Washington (Washington)
Stuart Dallas (Dallas)
There will be a few more, but that was just for starters. Tomorrow, it will be this man…
USA and Northern Ireland at the World Cup
It’s interesting to note that Northern Ireland and the USA have never ever been at the same World Cup together. And also, in 1986, both countries had appeared 3 times each. Since then, USA have been at 7 World Cups, and will be at 2026 as well since they are one of the hosting hat-trick.
1930 – USA (Semi Finals)
1934 – USA (Last 16)
1950 – USA (Last 16 – group stage exit)
1958 – Northern Ireland (Quarter Finals)
1982 – Northern Ireland (Last 12)
1986 – Northern Ireland (Last 24 – group stage exit)
1990 – USA (Last 24 – group stage exit)
1994 – USA (Last 16)
1998 – USA (Last 32 – group stage exit)
2002 – USA (Quarter Finals)
2006 – USA (Last 32 – group stage exit)
2010 – USA (Last 16)
2014 – USA (Last 16)
2026 – USA
USA have been lucky however, that they hosted it twice (1994 and 2026) so two of their qualifications were free.
Northern Ireland has 1.8 million people in it. There are probably around 2 million people eligible to play international football for Northern Ireland (parentage/grandparentage), yet the United States of America has 330 million people. If Northern Ireland even pull off a draw here, that would be some achievement. And then the mind boggles – if these players on this list (Brian Quinn, Cecil Moore and Dale Ervine) were good enough to be chosen as one of 11 players on the pitch out of 330 million, surely they would have made it onto the pitch in a player pool of 2 milion? Or maybe not – in the 1980s Northern Ireland won two British Championships, lost their only World Cup matches to World Cup winning countries, beat Spain in Spain, beat West Germany twice and should have been at Euro 84 (under current rules, we’d have qualified). Here’s the magic list.
Northern Irish Footballers Who Played For United States of America
“A hot line, a wanted ad, it’s crazy what you could have had” – Michael Stipe (USA).
1.Cecil Moore
Born: Belfast, Northern Ireland (1926).
Northern Ireland caps: 1 (1949).
USA caps: 1 (1953).
Clubs: Glentoran, New York Americans.
Position: Goalkeeper.
Geek Unique Fact: Cecil Moore is the only footballer to play for Northern Ireland and USA.
Craic: Cecil Moore is the only man on this list that has played for both Northern Ireland and for the USA. He won his only Northern Ireland (Ireland) cap in 1949 while he was in nets for the Glens (Glentoran FC) and then he moved Stateside. By 1953, he was good enough to be chosen as the goalkeeper for the USA. He was only capped by each country once, and in two different decades. He also lost both matches against UK countries. For Northern Ireland, we lost 2-0 to Wales and for the USA they lost 6-3 to England. Still, the legacy of Cecil Moore lives on. Nobody does stuff like this and isn’t a hero. Trendsetter, trailblazer, wacaday man.
2.Brian Quinn
“He’s tall he’s thin, he looks like Jimmy Quinn, he’s Brian Quinn” – Northern Ireland fans (never).
Born: Belfast, Northern Ireland (1960).
Northern Ireland caps: none.
USA caps: 48.
USA goals: 1.
Clubs: Larne, Everton, Los Angeles Aztecs, Montreal Manic, San Diego Sockers, Hamilton Steelers, USSF.
Position: Midfielder.
Geek Unique Fact: Brian Quinn is the only Northern Irish born footballer to score for the USA.
Craic: Brian Quinn is an enigma, a classic quiz question. I love concocting one of these up…
- I was born in Belfast.
- I narrowly missed out on two World Cup squads but still won 48 caps, scoring once.
- I was at a Merseyside club in two different decades
- I was at clubs in 4 different countries, some of those clubs are not famous.
- I was 75% of the way to playing for the USSR.
- I played over 40 times for United.
- One of my caps was against the Republic of Ireland.
Brian lived the dream, he truly lived it. On this list, he was very unlucky not to be included in the USA’s World Cup squads, for USA 1994 especially and he wasn’t called up early enough to be considered for Italia 90. He won a whopping 48 caps in 3 years, scoring once. He is the only Northern Irish born footballer to score for the USA, and the only one to amass 10 caps. He actually won 8 of his caps in the year before USA 94 World Cup, but was a final cut from the panel when forced to name a 22 man squad for the World Cup that the USA hosted. He appeared in many of the tournament card sets, sticker books. His legacy lives on in the USA, where Brian also carved out a career in management. Plus there was a Brian (Laudrup/Roy/McBride) and a Quinn (Niall) who scored for Republic of Ireland and USA at World Cups in the 1990s. Brian’s USA debut was also against the Republic of Ireland! Oh Northern Ireland, what we could have had…
3.Dale Ervine
Born: Belfast, Northern Ireland (1964)
Northern Ireland caps: none.
USA caps: 5 (1985 – 1993).
Clubs: UCLA Bruins, Los Angeles Heat, Wichita Wings, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Los Angeles Salsa, Los Angeles United, Anaheim Splash, Sacramento Knights.
Position: Midfielder.
Geek Unique Fact: Dale Ervine is the only Northern Irish born footballer to play for the USA in two different decades.
Craic: Similarly to Brian Quinn, Dale was also not included in the USA 1994 World Cup squad, despite being capped in 1993. However Dale remains the only Northern Irish born footballer to be capped by the USA in two different decades and during a time that the USA were at two World Cups (1990 and 1994). At Wichita Wings, indoor soccer, Dale Irvine scored a whoppaday 305 goals in 249 games. It’s eating the heart out of Lionel Messi. It wasn’t Northern Ireland for the Belfast boy. A chance missed for Northern Ireland was the USA’s gain.
Other linked football stories
- A list of non-Northern Ireland born Northern Ireland international footballers
- 100 football memories from 100 countries
- Crazy Footballers – Journeymen loyal
- Northern Ireland league players at World Cups
- Top 5 Football Podcasts to listen to
- Countries whose players have won the European Cup
- Visiting the home of the penalty kick – Milford, Northern Ireland
- Guided tour of the Oval Grounds, Belfast
- Countries that have won the World Cup
- Who won the World Cup in 1942?
- Who won the World Cup in 1946?
- Reminiscing the time that Wimbledon played Real Madrid
Other links –
- A list of non-USA born US international footballers
- A list of dual Ireland international footballers
Northern Ireland playing Mexico in the USA in 1994…
