The Irishman who nutmegged Franz Beckenbauer

Pat Byrne file pic .

JOHN O’SHEA and Figo is comfortably the most famous example over the years of an Irish international nutmegging a footballing superstar, but this is not the only time it happened.

Future Ireland player Pat Byrne was just 22 when he found himself playing in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for the recently formed Philadelphia Fury.

The Dublin-born midfielder had won two titles in four years at Bohemians and was due to sign for Fulham before the move fell through after the English club were hit with a transfer embargo.

Instead, Byrne was offered the chance to go to Philadelphia, a team that boasted an impressive midfield combo of World Cup winner Alan Ball and Leeds legend Johnny Giles, with Chelsea legend Peter Osgood up front while fellow Irish players Fran O’Brien and Eddie Byrne were also at the club.

The NASL, which would be disbanded in 1984, was at its zenith back in 1978.

The New York Cosmos were very much the team to beat and would go on to win the title that year for the third time in addition to being crowned champions twice more thereafter in 1980 and 1982.

Their squad featured 1970 World Cup winner Carlos Alberto, Italian star Giorgio Chinaglia and Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer, while Pele had ended his career at the club the year before.

They were far from the only American side with at least one ageing superstar on their books in a manner somewhat reminiscent of Saudi Arabia in present-day football.

At the same time, Eusébio was at New Jersey Americans, George Best lined out for Fort Lauderdale Strikers, England legend Bobby Moore was at Seattle Sounders, while Gerd Müller and Johan Cruyff would move Stateside the following year.

“It was like fantasy football,” says Byrne who also mentions the fact that the Fury were owned by rock musicians Rick Wakeman, Peter Frampton, Mick Jagger, and Paul Simon.

“You had celebrities all over the place and you were in awe of some of the people who were there.

“It was all the people you would have seen on telly, but you’re seeing them live.”

And it is the star-studded game against the Cosmos that stands out in the memory for Byrne.

Having been playing in the League of Ireland only months previously, the Irish midfielder suddenly found himself toe to toe with the late Beckenbauer, who four years earlier had captained West Germany to a World Cup triumph.

“The occasion I remember most was when the ball came to me,” he says. “[Beckenbauer] came to close me down. And just instinctively, I stuck the ball through his legs.

“Then I went around the far side, had the ball and played it to someone. But I didn’t do it again, I can tell you that. It was once and once only.”

So was the German veteran unimpressed with the antics of the Irish youngster?

“I don’t think he was,” says Byrne who would go on to be part of the great Shamrock Rovers side who won four league titles on the bounce in the 1980s.

“But sure look, in the course of the game, you never really get people’s reactions because you’re concentrating on where the ball falls when it goes through his legs.

“So that’s my claim to fame.”

Despite getting the better of him in that instance, Byrne was impressed at the time by the 32-year-old Beckenbauer, who sadly passed away during the week.

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“He was superb even that day — he just had an elegance about him.

“He just strolled around the pitch — all the time in the world. We had Alan Ball and Johnny Giles — similar players. They just had that natural elegance about them.

“People didn’t get close to him. He was so good on the ball, he never got caught, he just had so much time on the ball.”

Byrne cites Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Chelsea star Thiago Silva as the two modern players most reminiscent of Beckenbauer but believes the German icon was better than both.

And at a time when ball-playing centre-backs were not as commonplace as they are today, Beckenbauer proved an anomaly

“He was not just getting the ball away and playing it from the back. He would intercept the ball and be the extra one in midfield, setting up attacks left, right and centre.

“He read the game so well and knew what the next pass was going to be.”

Philadelphia were ultimately beaten 3-0 by the Cosmos on the day but Byrne feels his side gave a good account of themselves despite the disappointing result.

Dennis Tueart, who made over 200 appearances in English football with Man City and Sunderland before moving Stateside, put his side in front just after the half-hour mark.

It was a close contest before goals in the 72nd and 75th minutes from Chinaglia and English winger Steve Hunt settled a game that was watched by 19,279 fans at Veterans Stadium. It was the dominant Cosmos’ 19th win in 24 matches.

There is no mention of Byrne in the New York Times report on the game, but it does briefly note how Keith MacRae, the Fury goalkeeper “deflected over the crossbar a bulletlike shot by Beckenbauer”.

“We did okay now with the team put together, but we probably should have been better than we were,” adds Byrne.

“It was very strange as well. A few teams played on astroturf and we hadn’t played on it.

“They say there was an extra 10-15 degrees more when you were playing on something like that. The effect it had on your body and joints and it wasn’t the same standard as what they are now.”

Byrne’s time in the States proved to be short-lived. He was back playing closer to home with Leicester City by 1979 amid doubts about the future of the NASL and its funding.

“I thought I was going to be there for years because I came home to get married. And when I was home, I said: ‘Well, look, let’s go around Ireland because we might not be back for a while.’ But we were back about six months later. So I didn’t plan my honeymoon very well, to be honest.”

Having arrived in 1977 after making over 400 appearances for Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer stuck around in the US until 1980, spending the two subsequent years at Hamburger SV before a final hurrah with the Cosmos in 1983.

By then, the NASL was on its last legs. Issues including over-expansion, the US economy being in recession and disputes with the players’ union contributed to its 1984 collapse.

Byrne went on to have a lengthy and successful career in the game, representing Ireland eight times between 1984 and 1986. He never encountered Beckenbauer again but looks back on his Stateside sojourn fondly and tips his hat to another legend of the game.

“It taught me a lot of things. It was very helpful going on in my career. The experience I got from the likes of Alan Ball and John Giles in particular, he was just a fantastic person.

“I got injured for a while over there and John Giles would stay back and help me get my fitness levels up and things like that, and he didn’t need to, you know? But he was a brilliant help.

“You can’t beat that, especially as a young person starting in the game, as he was coming to the end of his career. He was still prepared to give you time.”