1984 - European Championships - Qualifying

UEFA decided the expanded format of eight teams for the final stages was a success after 1980.  But this time they also decided to restore the Semi-Final stage, rather than just two group winners contesting the Final.  France was given the tournament to host.  The first time they had hosted a tournament since 1938 when they hosted the 3^rd World Cup Finals.

QUALIFICATION

For the qualification stage, thirty-two teams were put into seven groups, four of five teams, and three of four teams.

GROUP ONE: Belgium, East Germany, Scotland, Switzerland

GROUP TWO: Finland, Poland, Portugal, USSR

GROUP THREE: Denmark, England, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg

GROUP FOUR: Bulgaria, Norway, Wales, Yugoslavia

GROUP FIVE: Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Romania, Sweden

GROUP SIX: Albania, Austria, Northern Ireland, Turkey, West Germany

GROUP SEVEN: Iceland, Malta, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland

Group 1 saw Scotland come up against the 1980 losing finalists, Belgium.  Both countries had competed in the 1982 World Cup in Spain, which Belgium had advanced to the 2^nd phase, beating Argentina, the holders, in their opening match.  The other two teams were East Germany and Switzerland.  Scotland began well with a 2-0 win over East Germany at Hampden Park.   They then suffered defeat in Berne against Switzerland and then two Kenny Dalglish goals saw them lead 2-1 in Belgium, only to eventually lose, 2-3.   Switzerland then arrived in Glasgow and came away with a 2-2 draw. With Belgium winning every game so far, and only the group winners to qualify, it was all over for the Scots.  They were the first team to take points off the Belgians when a Charlie Nicholas goal levelled things at Hampden.  Belgium then lost to Switzerland, but they’d already won the group.  Scotland’s disappointing campaign finished with a poor 1-2 defeat to East Germany, and they finished bottom of the group.

Group 2 included Poland, who finished 3^rd in the 1982 World Cup and USSR, who reached the 2^nd phase in Spain, losing to Poland.  Portugal and Finland made up the group.  Poland started off away to Finland and were 3-0 up before two late goals gave them a scare.  Portugal then also turned up in Finland and came away with a victory.  Portugal hadn’t qualified for a major tournament since they finished 3^rd in 1966.  They pulled off a surprise by beating Poland, 2-1.  Poland then dropped points at home to Finland, and with USSR beating both Finland and Portugal, it looked tough for the Poles.

USSR then drew in Poland and won in Finland, and then completed the Poles misery by winning in Moscow.  With two matches remaining, Portugal travelled to Poland needing to win.  Carlos Manuel got the only goal of the game and Portugal won, 1-0, leaving things finely poised for the final game of the group in Lisbon, between Portugal and USSR.  A draw and USSR were through.  One minute before half-time and Rui Jordao converted the penalty for the only goal of the game.  Portugal had dramatically won the group.

Group 3 saw England drawn against Denmark, Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg.  England had a new manager, Bobby Robson and he shook things up by refusing to include England's talisman of the past eight years, Kevin Keegan.  They started nervously with a 2-2 draw in Copenhagen.  Trevor Francis two goals looked to have won it, until Jesper Olsen grabbed a late equaliser.   
Luxembourg were the whipping boys as both Greece and Denmark beat them, before England’s tricky visit to Greece.  Goals from Tony Woodock (2) and Sammy Lee gave England an impressive, 3-0 win.   They followed this with a thumping of Luxembourg, 9-0 when Luther Blissett scored a hat-trick on his debut.   Hungary, who England had met in the qualifying group for the 1982 World Cup, then beat Luxembourg, 6-2 both at home and away.  In between this, England dropped crucial points as Greece came to Wembley and walked off with a 0-0 draw.   England then beat Hungary, 2-0 at Wembley.   When Greece won in Hungary and then Denmark beat them too, it all came down to the match at Wembley between England and Denmark.  England were wasteful and Allan Simonsen converted a penalty that proved to be the only goal.  Denmark had beaten England for the first time and now held control of the group.

England’s hopes were raised when Denmark lost, 0-1 in Hungary, but they needed Greece to beat them too.  Goals from Preben Elkjaer and Simonsen gave Denmark a 2-0 win and they’d won the group.  Not even a 4-0 win for England in Luxembourg was enough and having qualified for the last two major international tournaments, England would again have a summer off.  Denmark had qualified, for only their 2^nd major tournament, having finished 4^th in the Euros in 1964.

Group 4 contained Wales who were drawn against Bulgaria, Norway and Yugoslavia.  They began with an Ian Rush goal winning the game at home to Norway.  Norway then beat Yugoslavia, and drew in Bulgaria.  Yugoslavia then won in Bulgaria before hosting the Welsh.  A cracking game saw Brian Flynn put Wales in front early on, but then 2 goals in 3 minutes saw the Yugoslavs lead 2-1.  When Niko Kranjcar’s Dad extended the lead just before half-time the Welsh had cause to be concerned.  But then Ian Rush got a goal back almost immediately, and they trailed 2-3 at the break.  Jesic then added a 4^th for the Yugoslavs, before Joey Jones and Robbie James levelled things for Wales.  The game ended 4-4, one to be remembered for a long time.   Jeremy Charles scored the only goal to be Bulgaria and then Wales gained a good 0-0 draw in Oslo. 

At this point, Wales were top of the group, 2pts clear of Norway and 3pts clear of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.  Yugoslavia then beat Norway to move into 2^nd.  Wales then travelled to Sofia, knowing victory would go a long way to qualifying them.  Unfortunately, Rusi Gochev got the only goal and Wales suffered their first and only defeat of the campaign.  They could redeem themselves if they beat Yugoslavia at Cardiff.   Robbie James gave them a first-half lead, and they held it until the last 10 minutes when Bazdarevic grabbed a late equaliser and Wales had missed another opportunity.  The final game in the group was in Split as Yugoslavia took on Bulgaria.  The Yugoslavs had to win as their goal difference was inferior to Wales and so a draw would see the Welsh go through.

Bulgaria scored first, but then Safet Susic grabbed an equaliser immediately.  Susic scored again early in the second half but then Georgi Dimitrov equalised.  The 90 minutes were up and Wales were getting ready to celebrate, but then Radanovic headed a very late winner and Yugoslavia had pipped the Welsh for qualification.

Group 5 contained the World Champions, Italy, along with Czechoslovakia, Romania, Sweden and Cyprus.  Italy were expected to cruise through as only the Czechs had competed in the ’82 World Cup and the ’80 Euros.  Romania got off to a great start beating Cyprus and Sweden.  Czechoslovakia and Sweden played out a 2-2 as Sweden scored 2 goals in the last 3 minutes to gain a point.  Italy’s first outing was in Milan against the Czechs, but they were disappointing in a 2-2 draw.  Italy were at home again, in Florence when Romania were the opponents, but were again disappointing in a 0-0 draw.  In February 1983, Italy travelled to Cyprus to gain their first victory of the campaign.  It didn’t turn out that way as they needed an equaliser from Graziani to gain a point.  Three games, three draws for the World Champions.  Cyprus then took points off the Czechs as well and the group was wide open.  In the return, Czechoslovakia thumped Cyprus, 6-0.  On the same day, Italy travelled to Bucharest, but Boloni scored the only goal of the game and Romania won, 1-0.  Italy were still winless from 4 matches, and 4pts behind the leaders, Romania.

The Czechs then swung things their way by beating Romania in Bucharest.  At the end of May 1983, Italy were in Stockholm to try and get their campaign going.  Eriksson and Corneliusson scored for the home side and Italy had lost again.  They would now need to win their last three matches, and that still might not be enough.  The group continued to ebb and flow as Romania beat Sweden, who then beat Czechoslovakia.  Sweden topped the group from Romania on goal difference, with Czechoslovakia 2pts behind.  Both Romania and the Czechs had a game in hand.

Sweden’s final match was in Naples.  Italy needed to win, and overturn a goal difference of -9.  After 20 minutes Glenn Stromberg put the visitors in front, and when he doubled the lead 7 minutes later the home fans were distraught.  Italy would now need a miracle.  It didn’t happen and Sunesson gave Sweden a famous 3-0 win.   Italy, the World Champions, were eliminated.  They had not won in their six matches.  Romania then won in Cyprus to move level on points with Sweden.  The Czechs, who would need to win their last 2 matches, then met Italy in Prague.  Petr Rada scored twice to heap more embarrassment on Italy as they won, 2-0.  The game between Romania and Czechoslovakia would decide the group.  The Czechs needed to win, the Romanians just needed a draw.  Geolgau gave Romania the lead, eight minutes from the end, Luhovy equalised but it wasn’t enough for the home side and Romania had won the group.  Italy finally picked up a win when they beat Cyprus, 3-1, but this was one of their worst ever qualification campaigns.

Group 6 had Northern Ireland up against European Champions, West Germany, along with Austria, Albania and Turkey.  Northern Ireland had reached the 2^nd phase in Spain ’82, as had Austria.  West Germany were losing finalists in Spain.  The Austrians flew out of the blocks with wins over Albania (5-0) and Turkey (4-0).  They also beat the Irish, 2-0 in Vienna with two goals from Walter Schachner.  In November 1982, West Germany arrived at Windsor Park.  18 minutes in and Ian Stewart scored, and this proved to be the only goal of the game.   A famous win and Northern Ireland’s bid was now back on track.  All that good work was then ruined when they couldn’t beat Albania in Tirana (0-0). 

Into 1983 and the Irish beat Turkey, 2-1, and Albania, 1-0 at home.  The Germans had recovered their form against the same opponents, but then were held to a 0-0 draw in Vienna.  Northern Ireland then welcomed group leaders, Austria to Windsor Park.  Goals from Billy Hamilton, Norman Whiteside and Martin O’Neill, gave them a 3-1 win.  Austria still lead the group, but only on goal difference from the Irish.  Austria were then beaten in Germany too.  Northern Ireland then missed their chance to take a real hold on the group as they lost 0-1 in Turkey.  Two goals each from Rudi Voller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge helped the Germans see off Turkey, 5-1.  That win took the Germans to the top of the group for the first time, with 3 teams on 9pts.  16^th November 1983 was a significant day for the group.  Austria were in Turkey and Northern Ireland travelled to Hamburg.  In Istanbul, Turkey put paid to Austria’s chances with a 3-1 win.  Norman Whiteside scored the only goal in Hamburg and the Irish had beaten West Germany, 1-0 to pull off a famous double.  The group all hinged on the final game as West Germany were at home to Albania.  The Germans just needed to win, as their goal difference was far superior to Northern Ireland’s.  Remarkably, Tomori gave Albania the lead in the first half, but within a minute, Rummenigge had scored his 7^th goal of the campaign.  Things stayed like that going into the final 10 minutes as the Irish hoped and prayed for no more goals.  Gerhard Strack broke Irish hearts with a late winner for the Germans.  It proved to be his only international goal, and West Germany won 2-1 to win the group on goal difference.

Group 7 contained Spain, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Iceland and Malta.  Spain had disappointed in the ’82 World Cup, and none of the other countries qualified.  The Dutch were surprisingly held to a draw in Iceland.  They then got their campaign underway by beating the Irish, 2-1.  Both Ireland and Spain beat Iceland, before the two met in Dublin.  Ashley Grimes put the Irish in front after just 2 minutes, but by the hour Spain were 3-1 up.  Frank Stapleton then scored twice and Ireland had gained an impressive draw.  After the Dutch thrashed Malta, 6-0 the big game of the group came in February 1983 in Seville as Spain took on Netherlands.  The only goal of the game came just before the break when Senor converted a penalty and the Spanish had the advantage.

Spain then beat Ireland at home and then won away at the two minnows of the group, Iceland and Malta.  Although, they only beat them by one goal each time and that could be significant if goal difference determines the winner.  To illustrate this, Netherlands then beat Iceland, 3-0.  In October in Dublin, the Dutch turned up and Ireland raced to a 2-0 lead in the first 35 minutes.  Gary Waddock and a Liam Brady penalty gave the Irish a dream start.  But in the second half, the Dutch came out a different side and two goals from Ruud Gullit and one from Marco Van Basten gave Netherlands a valuable 3-2 win.  Netherlands and Spain then met in Rotterdam.  After this game both countries had Malta to play, so a win for Spain would ensure their qualification, but a win for Netherlands and they could win the group on goal difference.  Peter Houtman put the home side in front midway through the first half.  Carlos Santillana then equalised just before half-time.  Midway through the second half and Ruud Gullit scored, what proved to be, the winner.   Now it would be down to how many goals each side could score against Malta.  The Irish then beat Malta, 8-0 when Mark Lawrenson helped himself to 2 goals.  Netherlands were first up, beating Malta 5-0.  Frank Rijjkaard scored twice, with his 2^nd coming in injury time and could prove significant.  Netherlands looked to have done more than enough to qualify, they had a goal difference of +16, scoring 24 goals.  Spain’s goal difference was just +5, so for Spain to overhaul them, they needed to win by 11 goals.  Only 25,000 turned up in Seville, a measure of how slim the Spanish public thought their chances were. 

Santillana scored after 16 minutes.  But then Degiorgio equalised for Malta and this spelt disaster.  Two minutes later, Santillana scored again and then completed his hat-trick inside the opening half-hour.  3-1 to Spain was the half-time score and qualification seemed a world away.  Poli Rincon then made it 4-1 early in the second half.  6 minutes later and Rincon scored again.  Then during a crazy three minutes, Maceda scored twice and Rincon completed his hat-trick.  25 minutes to go and Spain lead 8-1.  Into the last 15 minutes and Santillana popped up with his 4^th goal of the night, which was matched 2 minutes later as Rincon scored his 4^th.  10-1 and Spain still needed to score twice more.  Manuel Sarabia then scored with 10 minutes to go, and then Senor scored the magic 12^th goal.  Spain had pulled off the unbelievable and won 12-1.  They had matched Netherlands goal difference but went through by virtue of having scored more goals.  

So qualification was complete.  France, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Romania, West Germany and Spain.

Would the finals be all that good, though, without World Champions, Italy, or Poland, who were 3^rd in Spain?  Not to mention England or Netherlands?

World Cup Stories - Poles Apart 1980

Poland in 1980 was a country where revolution was growing.  In the grip of a communist regime since the Second World War, and mainly ruled from Moscow, many citizens had begun to fight back.  1980 was the year of ‘Solidarity’ and strikes in various shipyards, namely Gdansk in the north, was frowned upon by Moscow.  This eventually forced the government, headed by General Jaruzelski to declare martial law and have the leaders of Solidarity arrested.

In the midst of this the Poland national team embarked on their campaign to qualify for the World Cup 1982 in Spain.  They were drawn into a 3-nation group with East Germany and Malta.  Their campaign was to begin in December 1980.  At the time, Poland was considered one of the best teams around.  Third place finish in World Cup 1974 and a place in the Second Phase in 1978 had them ranked 6^th in the world.  Their first game in the qualifying section was a trip to Valetta to play Malta on 7^th December.  Poland manager, Ryszard Kulesza, had named his squad and arranged they were going to attend a training camp in Italy and then a warm-up game against a representative side from the Italian League.  The team was to depart on 29^th November and stayed in a hotel in Warsaw the night before.  Late in the evening, three players left the hotel without Kulesza’s permission and went to a restaurant.  The three players, goalkeeper Jozef Mlynarczyk, and strikers Wlodzimierz Smolarek and Andrzej Iwan, met a journalist at the restaurant and proceeded to drink.  The journalist was apparently a friend of Mlynarczyk’s and his wife had left him to move to Italy and as Mlynaczyk had recently played in Italy with his club, Widzew Lodz, the journalist was hopeful the keeper might have something interesting to tell him.  So he kept them plied with drinks.

Mlynarczyk then returned to the hotel around 7am, by which time he was in no condition to even carry his own bags.  Kulesza’s assistant, Bernard Blaut, then told Mlynarczyk he would have to stay behind.  Several of the players reacted angrily, including Polish star-player, Zbigniew Boniek, defender Wladyslaw Zmuda, striker Stanislaw Terlecki and Smolarek.  There was almost a fight and then the team left, without their main keeper.  Terlecki then decided he was going to drive the keeper to the airport and force the management to put him on the plane.  Polish cameras were at the airport and Terlecki did his best to try and disrupt their opportunity of taking pictures, which clearly made the situation worse as they began to get concerned there was something very wrong.

Kulesza, fearing a mutiny amongst the players, eventually relented and allowed the keeper onto the flight.  The press had soon worked out what the problem was and soon labelled the rebellious players who’d supported Mlynarczyk “the gang of four”.  The main instigator seemed to be Terlecki, who was a well-known ‘troublemaker’ in the eyes of the communist authorities.  Remember, Poland was part of the communist Eastern Europe, yet Terlecki was a well-known anti-communist.  He’d made several unsuccessful attempts to start up a players’ union, and saw this as an opportunity to defy the establishment some more and once in Rome, he arranged for the players to meet the Pope.  Pope John Paul II was born in Poland and so was happy to oblige.  This was the final straw, as far as the authorities were concerned, and they sent the four players home.

Terlecki, Boniek, Zmuda and Mlynarczyk were four of their best players, and so the team took on Malta without them.  But the drama didn’t end there.

Malta had always been considered one of world football’s minnows.  Played its first international game in February 1957 when they met Austria at home in Gzira, and began a qualifying tournament for the first time in 1962, in the European Championship qualifiers.  Their first World Cup qualifier was in 1971.  It wasn’t until 1975 when they finally won a match, beating Greece 2-0.

The problem with the Gzira stadium was that it was furnished with artificial turf.  Finally in 1980 Malta built their own stadium at Ta’ Qali, with proper grass.  However, a dispute between Maltese Football Association (MFA) and the Ministry of Sport meant the ground still couldn’t be used when the qualification campaign began for World Cup 1982. 

Because of the dispute, the game had to be played at the old Gzira Stadium.  This was the same stadium where Malta had held the mighty West Germany in a European Championship qualifier in February 1979.  Malta’s last international was also against West Germany, when they were beaten 0-8 in Bremen.   A decent crowd of 5,555 turned up to cheer the locals on.  Poland began well and were soon creating chances, but just couldn’t convert them.  Malta managed to give a good account of themselves and the first half ended goalless.

10 minutes into the second half, Smolarek turned in a ball played across the area and the Poles were 1-0 up.  Malta recovered well and Fabri probably should’ve done better when he headed over the bar from a good position.  But soon after that it all ‘kicked-off’.  The ball was played through to Lipka, who seemed to be in an offside position.  The linesman flagged and the defence stopped, and Lipka even appeared to guiltily roll the ball into the net as if he was expecting the whistle to blow.  But to everyone’s amazement the referee, Yugoslavian Dusan Maksimovic, awarded the goal.

The Maltese players surrounded the referee, protesting the decision.  The home fans were incensed and started to let the referee know, in no uncertain terms, what they thought of his decision.  Pretty soon, stones and other missiles were thrown onto the pitch, and also at the linesman, who was certainly not at fault.  The referee attempted to come over to the area of trouble, but received the same treatment.  Eventually, he re-started the game.  Poland’s Dziuba and Malta’s Fenech were booked and the crowd finally lost it completely with missiles being thrown at anyone and everyone.

MFA President, Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici then came onto the pitch to try and calm things down.  The referee was adamant the game couldn’t continue until calm had been restored.  Bonnici appealed to the crowd, knowing the trouble could bring a ban from FIFA and Malta didn’t have another stadium to use at that stage.  No one listened.  Instead the rained their objects down on the Polish bench and the Malta coach, Victor Scerri, ushered the Poles to the centre circle where they were out of the firing line.

Eventually the referee had no option but to call the game off.  This didn’t stop the trouble and it would take him a further half an hour to reach the safety of the dressing rooms.  Fearing the worst, Malta had to face FIFA to see what repercussions would come their way.  They faced a hefty fine and the possibility they would not be allowed to use the Gzira Stadium for their next match.  There was also the possibility they’d have to play their next match behind closed doors.  Either way, none of this was particularly palatable for an association short of money.

In the end, FIFA was much more lenient than expected.  They banned Malta from playing their next international at the ground, forcing the MFA to choose a venue in Sicily for their next match.  The game was awarded to Poland, despite 13 minutes still to be played.

The Ta’ Qali Stadium wouldn’t be used until December 1981.

But that still was not the end of the story, as the four Polish players had to learn of their punishment.  The Polish FA then held an investigation into the happenings of 29^th November.  The four players gave their accounts of what happened, along with Kulesza and Blaut.  Only Kulesza and Blaut’s versions were accepted as true.  Terlecki and Boniek were barred from the Poland national squad for a year, and Zmuda and Mlynarczyk for eight months.  Smolarek received a two-month ban, with a six-month suspension period.  The ban also stopped them playing for their clubs sides too.

Kulesza, who had originally been in favour of Mlynarczyk being sent home, was so angry with the severity of the players’ punishment he immediately resigned.  He had been part of the coaching set-up within the national team from 1976, taking over from Jacek Gmoch after the last World Cup in 1978.

The player’s clubs, Widzew Lodz and LKS Lodz were also astounded by the goings on and even threatened to withdraw from the league to set up their own, but later thought better of it.  Despite being without Boniek, Mlynarczyk, Zmuda and Smolarek, Widzew Lodz managed to win the League title, their first ever.

Antoni Piechniczek replaced Kulesza as national team manager, Mlynarczyk, Boniek and Zmuda had their bans cancelled early with Mlynarczyk and Zmuda in the team for the 1-0 win over East Germany in May 1981, while Boniek returned to the side in September against West Germany. 

Terlecki never played for Poland again.  He also stopped playing professional football in his home country, preferring to concentrate his efforts on the struggle against communism which was growing throughout the country around that time.  He eventually emigrated to USA in June 1981 where he got involved in Major Indoor Soccer League.

Poland won their qualifying group, winning all their matches, and performed well in Spain, reaching another third place.

Boniek would become one of the best players in Europe, joining Juventus in 1982 after the World Cup.  Pele later named him in his list of 125 Greatest Living Footballers, and FIFA selected him in their list of 100 best ever players.

Mlynarczyk performed admirably in the finals in 1982 and 1986.  In 1984 he moved from Widzew Lodz to Bastia, in France and then onto Porto, where he was part of their European Cup winning side in 1986-87.

Smolarek, also played in 1982 and 1986 finals.  He was capped 60 times by his country and left Widzew in 1986 moving to Eintracht Frankfurt before finishing his career in Netherlands.  His son, Euzebiusz currently plays in Germany with Borussia Dortmund.

Zmuda was a member of the Polish squads for 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1986 tournaments.  His 21 appearances in the finals is joint third in the list along with Diego Maradona and Lothar Matthaus.  He played 91 times for his country and in 1982 left Widzew to move to Hellas Verona, in Italy and then onto New York Cosmos.

Piechniczek continued to manage Poland through the 1982 tournament and onto the 1986 finals.  After a brief stint at domestic level with Gornik Zabrze, he then moved to Tunisia and UAE, before returning as Poland manager for a year in 1996-1997.

Kulesza went to manage Tunisia after leaving Poland and then onto Morocco, before returning to Poland in the late 1980’s.  He became an activist of the Polish FA, actively fighting corruption.