As one World Cup cycle comes to a close in 2022, attention inevitably begins to drift towards the next. There will be another European Championship, Copa America and Africa Cup of Nations to come before then, but long-term plans can start to be pieced together.
Any nation harbouring ambitions of gracing the grandest of sporting stages – as FIFA’s flagship event heads to the United States, Canada and Mexico – needs to start pulling all of the relevant pieces of an intricate puzzle together at this stage in order to ensure that they are assembled properly in good time for 2026.
Integral
Prolific frontmen will be integral to those plans, as the players who lead qualification bids and allow favour to be earned in football odds. It is these talismanic performers who also figure prominently in World Cup top goalscorer odds and allow positive progress to be made once major tournaments are reached.
Northern Ireland did return to such a stage in 2016 when figuring at that summer’s European Championship, but they have not made a World Cup finals since 1986. The intention is to right that wrong some 40 years on as modern-day heroes emerge to sit alongside those from years gone by.
Only six men from Northern Ireland have ever found the target at a World Cup, across three appearances at such events, but who are they and can their exploits be emulated by stars of the not-too-distant future?
Wilbur Cush
Made history with his country’s first World Cup goal at the 1958 finals, with the target found by a man plying his trade for Leeds United at the time within 21 minutes of a tournament opener against Czechoslovakia.
Peter McParland
Aston Villa legend McParland was a classy outside left and one of the finest headers of a ball to have ever graced the game. He gave Northern Ireland an early lead against Argentina in 1958, before going on to bag braces in a thrilling 2-2 draw with West Germany and a historic group stage play-off victory over the Czechs.
Gerry Armstrong
Will be forever remembered for his winning goal against Spain at the 1982 World Cup, but Armstrong also netted in an earlier fixture against Honduras that allowed Northern Ireland to top their group – while he was on target again in a defeat to France at the second group stage.
Billy Hamilton
A regular source of goals at club level, but never prolific for his country, two of Hamilton’s five international goals came in one game at the 1982 finals. Those efforts were recorded in a 2-2 draw with Austria.
Norman Whiteside
The Manchester United icon is one of the finest talents Northern Ireland has ever produced. Fittingly, he does have a World Cup finals goal to his name from a 1-1 draw with Algeria at the 1986 event in Mexico.
Colin Clarke
The last man to find the target for Northern Ireland at the World Cup, with only two players having ever scored more goals for the Green and White Army. Clarke netted against Spain in 1986, with a barren run endured since then.
Hope
While several generations have come and gone since Northern Ireland last strutted their stuff on a World Cup stage, hope continues to spring eternal that – with Michael O’Neill back at the helm – there are more chapters in a thrilling fairytale to be written.
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