Northern Ireland 1-2 Spain
Date Played – June 1986 (world cup)
Having been defeated by Northern Ireland in the 1982 world cup finals, Spain were keen on getting revenge on the Irish and despite a heroic performance by Northern Ireland, Spain got their own back. The Spaniards took the lead through the sharp Emilo Butragueno after only one minute of the match played. Spain took total control on 18 minutes as Salina made it 2-0 to the Spaniards. Northern Ireland began the fight back and after coming close on several occasions, as a farcical sliced clearance by Zubizarreta had been headed in by Colin Clarke. The match ended 2-1 to Spain and ended any hopes of progression in the world cup for Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland 1-1 Algeria
Date Played – June 1986
Northern Ireland encounter against Algeria in the 1986 world cup was a hard, bad tempered encounter. Northern Ireland took the lead through Norman Whiteside in the fifth minute as he scored a great free kick. The Irish dominated much of the match and against the run of play; Algeria equalized and seemed content to play out for the 1-1 draw while Northern Ireland threw everything at Algeria.