John Aldridge - International Career

International Career

Aldridge had already been recruited to play for the Republic of Ireland by the time he was approached by his boyhood club Liverpool at the start of 1987. When the Football Association of Ireland came looking for him they found out that Ray Houghton was also eligible, as he also played for Oxford at the time. He made his debut on 26 March 1986 against Wales at Lansdowne Road in a 1–0 defeat.

That summer, Aldridge played for the Irish side which had qualified, under Jack Charlton, for Euro 88 in West Germany, their first-ever major finals. They duly beat England 1–0, and drew 1–1 with the USSR, but went out of the competition after a defeat by eventual champions Holland. Aldridge was struggling at international level at this time – he was playing well as a team performer, and Charlton was never unhappy, but it took him 20 matches to score his first international goal, which came against Tunisia at Lansdowne Road on 19 October 1988.

Aldridge withdrew himself from Ireland's World Cup qualifying tie with Spain at Lansdowne Road on 26 April 1989, as he felt unable to participate in the game due to his grief over the Hillsborough disaster. The game ended in a 1–0 win for Ireland.

Aldridge was a success with Sociedad and also played a crucial role in Ireland's path to the quarter-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Though he had finally opened his goal account for his country, he failed to score at the World Cup and Ireland lost to the host nation in the last eight. Aldridge played every game but was substituted in all of his five appearances.

Aldridge's international career with Ireland is also remembered for an off-pitch incident at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Trailing 2–0 to Mexico in a group game in Orlando, Florida, manager Charlton tried to send Aldridge on as a substitute but was delayed by a perceived sluggishness from the officials. Manager and player both launched expletive-laden tirades which were clearly heard by television viewers, with Aldridge having to be restrained from attacking the 4th official and a FIFA representative. Both were punished after the game, but when Aldridge finally was allowed on, after 6 full minutes of trying, he scored a goal to give Ireland a chance to get back into the game. Despite losing the game 2–1, Aldridge's goal was crucial in securing qualification for the second round. All four teams in the group had finished with the same number of points and the same goal difference, Ireland's qualification was at the expense of Norway who had scored just one goal fewer.