Group E of the 1994 FIFA World Cup was one of six groups of four teams competing at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. The first match was played June 18, 1994, and the final games took place simultaneously on June 28, 1994.
The group consisted of Italy, Republic of Ireland, Mexico, and Norway. Mexico won the group on goals scored. Ireland and Italy also progressed to the knockout rounds, having finished with identical records and the Irish team qualifying in second place as a result of their victory against the Italians. The Italians qualified as one of the best-scoring third place teams. Norway's shortcomings in attack ultimately let them down, and they exited the tournament with only one goal. It is the only group in World Cup history in which all four teams finished with the same number of points and goal difference.
Ray Houghton's early goal proved the only one of the match where Ireland's defense prevailed over Italy's attack.[1][2] During the game, members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, burst into a pub in Northern Ireland with assault rifles and fired on the customers,[3] killing six civilians and wounding five. The pub was targeted because it was frequented mainly by Catholics,[4] and was crowded with supporters watching the Republic of Ireland.[4] It is thus sometimes called the "World Cup massacre" or the Loughinisland massacre.[5][6][7]
The only goal of the game was scored by Kjetil Rekdal in the 85th minute when the referee let the game continue after a foul on Jan Åge Fjørtoft close to the Mexican penalty area. The goalscorer entered the game minutes before the decisive strike.[8]
^ abThe Economist newspaper. 25 June 1994. pp. 25–26. "For the 24 fans gathered in Heights Bar in the quiet village of Loughinisland in County Down, the cheering was followed by carnage. Two men walked into the pub and sprayed the room with bullets, killing six and wounding five, and then fled laughing. The Ulster Volunteer Force, a Protestant terrorist group, later claimed it had carried out the attack. It chose the pub only because it knew that those gathered to support Ireland's team would be Catholic".
Mexico
Republic of Ireland
Italy
Norway
11'
