IFA Programme 2016

The last time Northern Ireland scored a penalty in a World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park was on 3 September 2005 when Warren Feeney (pictured having a debate with Italy star Andrea Pirlo) converted from the spot in the 84th minute in a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan. That

is one of only nine penalties that the team have scored in qualifying matches. The full list is: Johnny Crossan 2 David Healy 2 Gerry Armstrong 1 Iain Dowie 1 Warren Feeney 1 Norman Lockhart 1 Sammy McIlroy 1

Northern Ireland have played a total of 37 countries in their 123 qualifying

games in the World Cup, the most frequent being Portugal whom they have met on 10 occasions. Our full record in the competition (excluding appearances in the three finals) is: P W D L F A Home: 57 27 13 17 83 61 Away: 62 9 20 33 45 91 Neutral 4 1 2 1 4 2 Total: 123 37 35 51 132 154

Only two players have ever scored hat-tricks for Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifying match. The first to do so was Billy McAdams whose treble came against West Germany at Windsor Park on 26 October 1960, though the Germans eventually ran out 4-3 winners. The other came from Johnny Crossan, who scored three in a 4-1 home success over Albania on 7 May 1965.

Northern Ireland’s biggest ever margin of victory in a qualifying contest was a 4-0 success against tonight’s opponents San Marino at Windsor Park on 15 October 2008. David Healy opened the scoring and Nigel Worthington’s side went on to add further goals from Grant McCann (pictured), Kyle Lafferty and Steven Davis .

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