Drizzle, Dmitri Kharine and The Three Amigos: Ireland v Russia I, 1993

Oleg Salenko

 Irish football fans rightly look back on the 1993/94 football season with a great deal of fondness

Celebrations started on November 17 1993 when Ireland secured World Cup qualification in the family-friendly atmosphere of Windsor Park thanks to a 1-1 draw with Billy Bingham's Northern Ireland.

Alan McLoughlin’s fine equaliser proved to be the key that night as was a heroic performance from Spanish debutant Santiago Canizares who single-handedly kept Denmark at bay in the other group decider in Sevilla. The hosts snuck a 1-0 victory through a Fernando Hierro header, despite playing with 10 men for 80 minutes after Andoni Zubizaretta was sent off for a professional foul on Michael Laudrup.

The journey to the USA included memorable meaningless victories away against Holland and Germany, but Ireland's first match after the fun and games in Belfast was their first ever meeting with a Russian side that was still in its youth as an independent footballing nation.