After an enjoyable summer in the 1994 world cup finals of America, the Irish set their sights for Euro 96. The Irish got off to a convincing start as John Aldridge was in prolific form for the Irish as he led the forward line as the Irish defeated Latvia, Liechtenstein and Northern Ireland 3-0, 4-0 and 4-0 respectively to go top of the section. They met Northern Ireland in Dublin in March 1995 and suffered a 1-1 draw against the Northern Irish. After enjoying a fine 1-0 win against Portugal, the Republic of Ireland suffered a humiliating 0-0 draw away at Liechtenstein which shocked the whole of Europe. After suffering two consecutive defeats against Austria they narrowly defeated Latvia in Dublin to make the play offs in a match played at Liverpool, however they lost their play off match against Holland 2-0. Jack Charlton left the managerial post and Mick McCarthy shortly took over as manager. In preparing for the 1998 world cup ualifiers, the Irish were in poor form, suffering defeats against USA, Portugal, Russia and the Czech Republic. They did enjoy a convincing 3-0 win against Bolivia in June 1996 to ease the pain. The Irish got off to a fine start as they swept to a fine 5-0 win over Liechtenstein in Eschen which was followed up by a 3-0 victory against Macedonia in Dublin. The Irish fell after suffering a home draw against Iceland, they followed that up by defeats away against Romania and Macedonia which all but ended hopes of qualifying. They came back in their final few matches with much need away wins against Iceland and Lithuania which earned the Irish a play off place, meeting Belgium twice at the end of 1997. Over the two legs, they lost 3-2 on aggregate and were out of the running for the world cup. They endured a disappointing spring in Dublin as they lost against Argentina in a friendly 2-0.