5 Disastrous England Qualifiers

Research completed for FourFourTwo Magazine.

Poland 2 England 0           1974 World Cup Qualifier

6^th June 1973

England’s hopes of reaching the 1974 World Cup in West Germany took a beating when former World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore uncharacteristically produced two blunders, gifting a 2-0 victory to Poland – who were later to qualify for the first time since 1938, at England’s expense. Moore first failed to clear a free kick, allowing Robert Gadocha to open the scoring, before gifting Wlodzimierz Lubanski a second for Poland as he was caught in possession. Alan Ball was later sent off, just to top off a woeful England performance.

England 0 Portugal 0        1976 European Championships Qualifier

30^th November 1974

Alongside Steve McClaren, Don Revie is the only other full England manager to never take the national team to a major championship finals. Games like this did nothing to prevent such a fate. Finishing only 1 point behind Czechoslovakia, a solitary goal at Wembley would have been enough to send England through – but England’s inability in front of goal proved costly. Misplaced passes and minimal threat on the attack resulted in a final whistle met with boo’s and chants of ‘what a load of rubbish’.

Italy 2 England 0                1978 World Cup Qualifier

17^th November 1976

England failed to qualify for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina by goal-difference, as Italy took top spot from Group 2. A combination of Don Revie’s lack of ideas and the Italian’s flair allowed goals from Antognoni and Bettega to secure a 2-0 victory. Don Revie later resigned during the qualifying campaign to become the United Arab Emirates Coach, leaving his successor Ron Greenwood an impossible task. The damage was already done, and a reverse score line the following year wasn’t enough to stop England crashing out of the 1978 World Cup in the qualifying stages.

Switzerland 2 England 1             1982 World Cup Qualifier

30^th May 1981

England almost threw away their ‘Golden Ticket’ to the 1982 World Cup, when two calamitous minutes saw Switzerland take a two-goal lead, leaving England joint on points with Hungary (who had two games in hand) and one behind Romania (who had one). England fans reacted angrily to the mess the seemingly unnecessary mess their team found themselves in, causing fighting on the terraces during the match, and vandalism on the streets of Basel after a solitary McDermott strike wasn’t enough to prevent a 2-1 loss. Nevertheless, England qualified in 2^nd place following favourable results throughout their group.

Norway 2 England 0                     1994 World Cup Qualifier

2^nd June 1993

Graham Taylor’s disastrous qualifying campaign for USA ’94 reached its peak in Oslo as Taylor’s tactics proved self-defeating in a game that left the Netherlands, Poland and Norway in stronger positions for qualification. Selecting three centre-backs to counteract the aerial threat of Jostein Flo backfired when the giant forward started wide right. Goals either side of half time for Leonhardsen and Bohinen secured a 2-0 victory for Norway, who eventually topped group-2, whilst England had to slump for third place. Chants of ‘we want Taylor out’ and ‘we’re so bad it’s unbelievable’ reflected a mortifying night for England.