After the 1984 tournament was considered a success, UEFA
decided to keep the format the same.
West Germany were chosen as hosts and so they qualified automatically. The other seven qualifiers would come from
the Group winners of the qualifying stage.
QUALIFICATION
For the qualification stage, thirty-two teams were put into seven
groups, four of five teams, and three of four teams.
Group One had
Spain, losing finalists four years earlier, up against Romania, Austria and
Albania. Romania were expected to be
Spain’s challengers and they were Spain’s first opponents in Seville. Real Madrid’s Michel scored the only goal of
the game. Romania had already beaten
Austria, 4-0. Spain then travelled to Albania and found
themselves 0-1
down, but bounced back to win 2-1. They
then needed a goal 2 minutes from time to win in Vienna, but then lost their
advantage as Romania beat them 1-3 in Bucharest.
The final games of the group saw Spain thrash Albania, 5-0, but
Romania couldn’t beat Austria, as the game ended goalless and Spain had won the group by just 1pt.
Italy were drawn in Group
2. They had missed out on
qualification for the 1984 tournament after one of their worst campaigns
ever. They were up against Sweden,
Switzerland, Portugal and Malta. Italy
were going through a difficult period.
They had won the 1982 World Cup, but didn’t qualify for the 1984 Euros
and then only reached the Second Round of the 1986 World Cup. Their opening match saw them beat
Switzerland, 3-2. Sweden began with two wins and a draw against
Switzerland, Portugal and Malta. Italy then
had back-to-back games against Malta, which they won 2-0 and 5-0.
By this time, Alessandro Altobelli had scored in every game and he
followed this with the only goal of the game in Portugal. Portugal were then stunned to be held at home
2-2
by Malta, which probably put paid to their hopes. Sweden looked to offer Italy with the
toughest opposition, especially when they beat Italy, 1-0 in Solna. But the nature of this group was that few
teams could mount a determined challenge, evidenced by Sweden then drawing in
Switzerland and then losing at home to Portugal. Italy then also dropped points in
Switzerland, but two goals from Gianluca Vialli saw them beat Sweden in Naples,
which secured first place in the group. Italy eventually won the group by 3pts
from Sweden.
Group 3 looked to
be a tough group as European Championship holders, France were up against
USSR. France had finished 3rd
in Mexico ’86 and were looking forward to defending their Euro title, they
worked so hard to earn 4 years previously.
Things didn’t start well as they were held to a 0-0 draw in Iceland. But then USSR were also held in Iceland so
that evened things up. The first big
clash between the two was in Paris in October 1986. Goals from Belanov and Rats gave the visitors
a 2-0
win. France then travelled to East
Germany and were again held to a 0-0 draw. Three
matches into their defence of the trophy and they had yet to score a goal. USSR beat Norway, 4-0 and 1-0, then East Germany, 2-0 and
were clearly in good form. France
finally found the net when they beat Iceland, 2-0, but then ruined it all by
losing 0-2
to Norway. The 2nd big
meeting between USSR and France ended in a 1-1 draw, and so USSR retained the advantage. Then USSR dropped points away to East
Germany, but then 4 days later France were held at home by Norway. USSR
had now qualified for the finals and the holders were out. France’s final act of a thoroughly miserable
campaign saw them lose to a last minute goal at home to East Germany. They’d won one of their eight games, scoring
just four goals.
Group 4 had
England up against Northern Ireland, as well as Turkey and Yugoslavia. England had missed the 1984 tournament, but
reached the Quarter-Finals of the 1986 World Cup. Their opening game was a 3-0 win over the Irish at Wembley
with two goals from Gary Lineker.
Yugoslavia then beat Turkey, 4-0 before Northern Ireland travelled to Turkey
and earned a 0-0
draw. England were at home again for
their second game when Yugoslavia were the visitors, and they kept up their
winning run with a 2-0 victory.
They then travelled to Windsor Park and goals from Steve Hodge and Chris
Waddle gave them another 2-0 win.
They dropped their first points in Turkey when they played out a 0-0 draw. The Irish were then 1-0 up at home to Yugoslavia, but
then lost 1-2
and then were also beaten in Sarajevo, 0-3.
England then played host to Turkey and had one of their biggest wins in
history. Lineker scored a hat-trick,
John Barnes got two and goals from Bryan Robson, Peter Beardsley and Neil Webb
gave England an 8-0
win to confirm qualification for the finals.
England continued the goal-fest with a 4-1 win in Yugoslavia. England scored all their goals in the opening
twenty-five minutes too!
England won the
group, unbeaten winning five of their six matches and conceding just one
goal. They had high hopes for the
finals.
Group 5 contained
Netherlands who had missed the last Championships as well as the ’86 World
Cup. They were drawn against Greece,
Hungary, Poland and Cyprus. Poland were
the favourites having finished 3rd in the ’82 World Cup and
competing in the ’86 World Cup too.
Poland were first up as they beat Greece, 2-1,
then the Dutch won in Hungary before they met Poland in Amsterdam. The game ended 0-0, a result that suited Poland
more than Netherlands. The Dutch then
won in Cyprus, before they were held at home by Greece. Poland were then held at home by Cyprus and
then went to Athens and were beaten 0-1 by Greece.
Goals from Gullit and Muhren saw the Dutch win 2-0 at home to Hungary, before
Hungary bounced back to beat Poland in Budapest, 5-3.
The return fixture also contained goals but this time Poland won 3-2. So October 1987 in Warsaw and the Dutch were
the visitors. Ruud Gullit scored another
two goals and Netherlands had qualified for the finals. They finished up beating Cyprus, 4-0 and
then Greece 3-0. Netherlands
had won the group, going through unbeaten conceding one goal
Group 6 saw
Denmark, who many people thought were good enough to win in 1984, up against
Czechoslovakia, Wales and Finland.
Finland were involved in five of the first six matches,
although they only picked up 1pt when they drew with Wales in Helsinki. Wales were able to get the better of them
when they played at Wrexham as they won 4-0.
Denmark had beaten Finland home and away, 1-0 and then drew away to the
Czechs. When the Czechs arrived in
Wrexham, Ian Rush’s goal eight minutes from time gained a 1-1 draw and the advantage was now
with Denmark. Jan Molby put Denmark in
front at home to Czechoslovakia to then be held to a 1-1 draw. But the Czechs then blew their chances when
they lost 0-3 in Finland. Denmark just
needed 2pts from their back-to-back meetings with Wales. In Cardiff, Mark Hughes scored the only goal
of the game, but in Copenhagen Preben Elkjaer did likewise for Denmark and the 1-0 win
was enough to see them qualify. The
Czechs then beat Wales, but it was their defeat to Finland which did for them,
and Denmark won the group, despite
only winning 50% of their matches
Group 7 promised
to be a tight one. Belgium, runners-up
in ’80, were drawn with Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and
Luxembourg. With Luxembourg expected to
be the whipping boys, results between the other could prove crucial. Belgium were up first at home to
Ireland. Twice they lead, but twice the
Irish pulled them back and then game ended 2-2.
On the same night, Scotland then drew 0-0 at home to Bulgaria. Belgium did their goal difference no harm
winning 6-0 in Luxembourg as Nico Claesen hit a hat-trick. Ireland and Scotland then met in Dublin and
the Scots played out another 0-0 draw.
But then Scotland beat Luxembourg, 3-0 at Hampden Park, before Belgium dropped more
points as they were held 1-1 at home to Bulgaria. In February 1987 Republic of Ireland visited
Hampden Park, and Mark Lawrenson scored the only goal of the game. But then two weeks later, the Irish ruined
that good work by losing in Sofia and then being held 0-0 at home to Belgium. Between those games, Belgium had thumped
Scotland, 4-1
as Nico Claesen continued his goalscoring form with another hat-trick. The Irish and the Belgians then played out a 0-0 draw
in Dublin. Twenty four hours later and
Bulgaria won in Luxembourg to go top of the group. The Irish also won in Luxembourg although
only by 2-0
and there were concerns goal difference could decide the group. When Ireland then beat Luxembourg in Dublin, 2-1 and
they went to the top of the group.
Bulgaria then beat Belgium, 2-0 to go back on top. October 1987, Bulgaria arrived at Lansdowne
Road, on the same night as Scotland entertained Belgium. Paul McGrath and Kevin Moran scored the goals
that gave Ireland a 2-0 win over Bulgaria and Ally McCoist and Paul
McStay scored the goals was gave Scotland a 2-0 win over Belgium. Ireland had now finished their matches and
lead Bulgaria by 1pt. The Bulgarians had
just 1 game left, at home to Scotland.
Belgium’s defeat in Glasgow put paid to their qualification hopes and
Scotland couldn’t go through either.
November 1987 and Bulgaria were at home to Scotland, knowing a draw would
be enough to see them progress. For 86
minutes the game was goalless and as the Irish were beginning to feel their
dream had gone, Hearts midfielder, Gary Mackay stepped up to score the only
goal of the game, and the only international goal of his career. Scotland had pulled off an unlikely 1-0 win
and the Republic of Ireland had won
the group. Just 2pts separated 4
countries, and the Irish had qualified for a major tournament for the first
time in their history.
After 14 months of competition, we now had our 7 qualifiers
to join West Germany.
Denmark, England, Italy, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland,
Spain, USSR.
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