Malcolm McDonald scores 5 goals in international against Cyprus

Yet Another in a Long Line of Very Cool Malcolms

International football teams can attract many foes. For the England football team there’s the neighbouring nations of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland plus the old favourites like Germany and France. But surely no nation riles the competitive juices like the name of…Cyprus. OK, so many names rile the juices more than Cyprus, but still Cyprus is the only country we’ve played in an international competition and then stuck five goals past them and had all the goals scored by one man.

And that man was Malcolm McDonald.On this day in 1975, during a European Championships qualifier, Supermac slotted a quint past the Cypriots, four with his magnificent head. While other pre-war players managed this feat in friendlies, only Malcolm did it in a match that meant something. Not that it helped much. We soon lost against the Czechs and failed to qualify for the tournament. And for some reason, I still blame Steve McLaren.