SAME START, DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS.

On April 15th 1964, Northern Ireland gave international debuts to George Best and Pat Jennings, two of the country's best and most well known footballers.
Prior to this match N Ireland had been beaten by England 8-3, so it was time for a change. Best was introduced to the international scene and on the debut match they beat Wales 3-2 in Swansea. The Welsh goalkeeper was Gary Sprake, another hero in the making.

Following on from the Welsh win, Northern Ireland beat Uruguay 3-0 in April 1964 and then took on England again but found themselves 0-4 down at half time. The final result was 3-4. At Windsor Park in May 1971, he scored one of the cheekiest "goals" seen when he nicked ball from Gordon Banks, who was just about the volley the ball from his hands down the pitch. The referee disallowed the goal for dangerous play. Best's foot was no higher than waist high!
After Manchester Unioted Best signed for a variety of clubs, least notably immediately after leaving Manchester, the Jewish Guild, Stockport County, Dunstable Town and Cork Celtic before heading off to Los Angeles.
 

Best played 37 times for his country and surprisingly only scored 9 goals, 4 of which came against Cyprus and one aganst Albania.

Best never graced the World Cup whereas Jennings (below) was still there in 1986, playing for his country after he had retired from club football. He made his debut at the same time as Best when on Watford's books and played his last game on his 41st birthday making him the World Cup's oldest participant. Playing in qualifying rounds for 6 World Cups is a record he shares with Dwight Yorke and Russell Lapaty (from Trinidad)