THE visit of the USA to face Ireland at Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night will act as a great reminder for many Irish footballers who went over to Stateside to play ‘Soccer’ in the NASL in the 1970 & 1980s.

Irish stars including John Giles, Fran O’Brien, Pat Byrne, Brendan Bradley, Eric Barber, Terry Conroy, Jimmy Conway, Tony Dunne, Joe Haverty, Liam Buckley, Mick Leech, Terry Mancini, Paddy Mulligan, Mick Martin, Don O’Riordan and Ray Treacy had spells in the NASL.

Two of Ireland’s soccer pioneers in the US were former youth international Gerry Reardon and current Ireland U21 team assistant manager Harry McCue who played for Tulsa Roughnecks and San Diego Sockers respectively.

They spoke to FAI TV about some of their memories of the NASL in its heyday.