Group D.
01.06.86 (12.00) Guadalajara, Estadio Jalisco
BRA – ESP 1:0 (0:0)
(~65000) Bambridge AUS, Socha USA, Kelzer HOL
BRA: Carlos – Branco, Edinho (c), Julio Cesar, Edson – Junior (79 Falcão),
Socrates, Alemão, Elzo – Casagrande (66 Müller), Careca
ESP: Zubizarreta – Tomás, Maceda, Goicoechea, Camacho (c) – Victor, Michel,
Francisco (83 Señor), Julio Alberto – Butragueño, Julio Salinas
1:0 Socrates 63 h
booked: Branco / Julio Alberto
The favourites opened the group, which was both good and bad – on one hand, both teams had a chance to clear a bit their future goals after the end of the duel; on the other – such games tend to be cautious and boring. And tough. The first half was exactly that, including rough play from both teams. The second half was better and there was more football, and long lasting intrigue and bitterness. A Spanish goal was disallowed – well, a goal, according the Spaniards. It looked like the ball went in the brazilian net, but bounced out. It was difficult moment and if the referee was wrong, it was not deliberate. And it was not at all certain the ball actually crossed the line – it dropped somewhere there, on the line, before the line, behind the line, nobody could really tell. Spain, however, had no grief about Brazilian goal disallowed a little later: a hand ball. Difficult to spot, but the referee spot it. Still, Brazil scored and not a bad goal, but it was also more fuel for Spanish complaints: looked like Socrates was a bit offside. It was again difficult the judge occasion – was he, wasn’t he… millimeters. But that was the only goal of the match and it was hardly a great match. Both teams did not look terrific. Tele Santana was philosophically satisfied with the earned points, but also looked a bit troubled – he said he had to talk to his players to get livelier and play somewhat fearlessly. The Spanish coach was all blame: Spain was robbed! It was not just disallowed goal, but also a missed penalty in Spanish favour. There was also laughable complain that Brazil very well studied Spanish play and did not permit the team to display itself in attack. About Spanish roughness Munoz was understandably mute, but his cry that Spain did not deserve to lose only added fuel to simmering accusations of official helping Brazil. Socrates himself added fuel to that, but later.
03.06.86 (12.00) Guadalajara, Estadio Trez de Marzo
ALG – NIR 1:1 (0:1)
(~22000) Butenko ZSR, Petrović JUG, Daina SUI
ALG: Larbi – Medjadi, Kourichi, Guendouz (c), Mansouri – Kaci-Said, Ben
Mabrouk, Maroc, Madjer (33 Harkouk) – Zidane (71 Belloumi), Assad
NIR: Jennings – J.Nicholl, O’Neill, McDonald, Donaghy – Penney (89 Stewart),
McIlroy (c), McCreery, Worthington – Hamilton, Whiteside (62 Clarke)
0:1 Whiteside 6 f, 1:1 Zidane 59
booked: Mansouri / Whiteside, Worthington, McIlroy
One more tough, but uneventful match. It went more or less as expected – Northern Ireland traditionally had difficulties scoring goals and was better overcoming strong opponents than equals. Algeria was expected to be ‘matured’ by now, therefore, to play ‘smart’ football – tactical, physical, boring, not taking risks. And that was what happened on the pitch, both goals scored from free kicks and nothing else, except that both teams chopped opponents mercilessly.
06.06.86 (12.00) Guadalajara, Estadio Jalisco
BRA – ALG 1:0 (1:0)
(~48000) Méndez GUA, Quiniou FRA, Martinez URU
BRA: Carlos – Branco, Edinho (c), Julio Cesar, Edson (11 Falcãao) – Junior, Socrates,
Alemão, Elzo – Casagrande (60 Müller), Careca
ALG: Drid – Medjadi, Megharia, Guendouz (c), Mansouri – Kaci-Said, Ben Mabrouk,
Madjer, Menad – Belloumi (79 Zidane), Assad (68 Bensaoula)
1:0 Careca 67
The heat was fantastic this day – too much even for teams used to play in hot weather. That was the big reason for sluggish tempo and practically nothing happening on the pitch, but let face it: fans and specialists never care for the weather – players are expected to play, to do something, to dazzle. Brazil at least tried a few lame kicks towards the Algerian net, but nobody was fooled by that and Brazilian journalists were particularly furious. Algeria proved to be not so mature yet – a terrible double mistake of the two central defenders provided opporunity for Careca to score and only after that the players of both teams came to life. The Algerians had to equalize, so they started running to the great displeasure of their Brazilian opponents, who favoured walking. Thanks to Edinho, Algeria was unable to equalize. Brazil was already in the next stage with perfect record, but nobody liked the way the team played and Santana had to endure particularly vicious questioning after the match – he blew up, saying that journalists have no idea not only what is to play in such heat, but what African football is all about. It was not at all a punching bag and Algeria had fantastic goalkeeper on top of it. Gone were the days of easy wins, lectured Santana in vain. He had bigger problem, though: Edson was already injured and Alemao was tried on his position – right full-back – against Algeria. But it was temporary and not very well working improvisation… Santana had to think of some other solution, which bordered with the fantastic – there was only Josimar, who never played for the national team before and in any case looked like only making the numbers. Presently, Josimar was not even an option yet… presently, Santana had to find an option.
07.06.86 (12.00) Guadalajara, Estadio Trez de Marzo
ESP – NIR 2:1 (2:0)
(~28000) Brummeier AUT, Nemeth HUN, Agnolin ITA
ESP: Zubizarreta – Tomás, Gallego, Goicoechea, Camacho (c) – Victor, Michel,
Francisco, Gordillo (54 Caldere) – Butragueno, Julio Salinas (78 Señor)
NIR: Jennings – J.Nicholl, O’Neill, McDonald, Donaghy – Penney (54 Stewart),
McIlroy (c), McCreery, Worthington (71 Hamilton) – Whiteside, Clarke
1:0 Butragueño 2 (63 sec), 2:0 Julio Salinas 18, 2:1 Clarke 48 h
booked: Victor / Hamilton
From North Irish point of view, Spain was uncomfortable opponent. But the same could be said in reversed order: Northern Ireland played best against strong teams. Spain had to win, though… and already had two missing starters, Maceda and Julio Alberto. The Irish had intact team and was ready to battle. But they were terribly surprised – Butragueno scored quick goal and before the Irish recovered Salinas made it 2-0. To the end of the first half the Spanish side had only one thing on mind: to kill Irish attacks as early as possible. It worked… after all Northern Ireland did not have many strikers to feed. But the second half in the humid heat was more difficult for Spain, especially after Gallego and Zubizarreta made double mistake and Clarke scored out of nothing in the 48th minute. The second half was dominated by the Irish, but scoring was always their weak point and they missed great chances. At the end it was 2-1 Spain and both coaches were a bit out of touch – Munoz complained that he is getting close to using second team, because of injuries (Gallego was added to Maceda and Julio Alberto) and said little about not very inspired football his team played. Billy Bingham found 90 minutes too short… if there was some more time, his team was surely going to equalize, may be even win. There was no denying Northern Ireland looked better on the pitch, as usually attacking team looks better than defending one, but they missed good scoring opportunities and the result was 1-2. Five more minutes would have been enough, lamented Bingham… well, 90 minutes were not enough, but 5 surely would have been… losing coaches often talk nonsense, but Northern Ireland played a brave game, one can be sorry for them.
12.06.86 (12.00) Guadalajara, Estadio Jalisco
BRA – NIR 3:0 (2:0)
(~51000) Kirschen DDR, Courtney ENG, Traore MLI
BRA: Carlos – Branco, Edinho (c), Julio Cesar, Josimar – Junior, Socrates
(68 Zico), Alemão – Elzo, Müller (28 Casagrande), Careca
NIR: Jennings – J.Nicholl, O’Neill, McDonald, Donaghy – Stewart, McIlroy (c),
McCreery, Campbell (71 Armstrong) – Whiteside (68 Hamilton), Clarke
1:0 Careca 18, 2:0 Josimar 42, 3:0 Careca 88
booked: Donaghy
This game deserves longer note. Brazil had nothing to play for now, but the criticism was so big, the team was not exactly in position to take it easy – to many, they have been taking it easy too long already. The whole team was blamed, but there were newly discovered reasons to pile up more: Socrates spent his time in Mexico drinking and smoking, no wonder nothing good happened on the field since the great star did not care a bit. And Zico was practically on vacation… it was well known that not only he was not fully recovered, but that he will never fully recover. Why bringing the useless tourist? Especially when it was clear the team was not playing good and a single new injury created a huge problem – who was going to play on the right side of defence? See what happens when alienating Leandro? Meantime Billy Bingham was thinking clever way of beating Brazil – at least that was what British journalists thought, getting optimistic from Bingham’s words that Brazil has beatable defensive line. However, mathematically the suitable for both teams result was a draw. Very likely one more sluggish match with nothing memorable. All preliminary talks were discarded right after the match started. Both teams, despite the heat, were in fine mood, keen on winning. The ‘clever scheme’ of Bingham proved to be the same as ever – 10 men defending, one solitary striker, hoping for a long ball coming from the trenches. Santana placed Josimar on the right of his defence – a debutante! On paper, extreme risk, but Brazil suddenly was playing lovely attacking football and the unknown defender excelled. Brazil was creative, showed exceptional skills and Northern Ireland was defending all the time, which suited them best. Of course, the Irish played hard, but there was welcome lack of vicious tackles – the spirit of both teams was not mean, they came out to play. The technically poor Irish tried their best, trying to counter-attack whenever possible, but the match was generally one-sided and Carlos had almost nothing to do. At last Brazil came back to life, the magic was back. Jennings, on the other had, had plenty to do and was the usual pillar – he made some tremendous saves, but could not stop all. At the end of the first half it was 2-0 Brazil and the second goal was scored by Josimar – and what a goal it was! A great curved long kick, which was unstoppable – it took courage first of all, for a defender and debutante to try something like that and the result was a beauty. In the second half Brazil was still wonderful, but the Irish contributed too – they had to come back somehow, so they moved ahead and attacked as often as Brazilians would permit them. But spirit alone cannot compensate for skills against superior team in playing mood itself. To the credit of Brazil, they did not decided to kill the game in the second half, but continued to attack as well. And there was a crowd-pleasing moment: in the 68th minute, when it was more or less clear, that Brazil was going to win, Santana replaced Socrates with Zico. It may have been even a tribute, may be the last chance for Zico to play a few minutes at this championship, but the fans cheered him greatly and, more importantly, Zico was determined to play and fitted in perfectly. In terms of tributes, this may have been the original plan, for Junior, in perfect position to score, chose to pass to Zico, to give him the chance to end his national team career with a goal. Jennings, however, saved – by passing instead of shooting, Junior gave him a second to try to cover, and greatness for greatness, Jennings managed. But Brazil was too strong and flying, so Careca scored a third goal just before the game end. Nobody was sorry after – it was wonderful match to watch, Brazil came back and sparkled, new star was born – Josimar played great football, Zico was seemingly ready for more than sitting on the bench, Northern Ireland played with great spirit and there was no blame in losing and even in ending its campaign now. There was nothing nasty on the pitch, a nice change for already becoming very ugly championship. The only bitter thing was that this ending came on the 41st birthday of Pat Jennings. It would have been great to get a point and have a chance for the next round, it would have been fantastic if the match ended 0-0, as a birthday present to the man who just played his 119th match with the national team jersey in 22 years of soldiering… but it did not happened. The consolation was less festive, but still – Jennings played a wonderful game, he saved a lot, showed great class. If not for him, the result could easily have been 6 or 7 nil (or may be 7-1 – but Carlos saved two extremely difficult situations). Well, that was that… Brazil was going ahead with perfect record of 3 wins and 0 goals received; Northern Ireland was going home, but proudly.
12.06.86 (12.00) Monterrey, Estadio Tecnologico
ESP – ALG 3:0 (1:0)
(~20000) Takada JAP, Esposito ARG, Picon-Ackong MRS
ESP: Zubizarreta – Tomás, Gallego, Goicoechea, Camacho, Victor – Michel
(84 Señor), Francisco, Caldere – Butragueno (46 Eloy), Julio Salinas
ALG: Drid (20 El Hadi) – Kourichi, Megharia, Guendouz (c), Mansouri – Kaci-Said,
Zidane (59 Menad), Madjer, Harkouk – Maroc, Belloumi
1:0 Calderé 17, 2:0 Calderé 68, 3:0 Eloy 71
booked: Goicoechea / Madjer
NOTE: Calderé failed anti-dope testing. However the Spanish officials
explained that the drug taken was actually a necessary medicine for asthma.
Therefore no personal sanctions were applied against the player, but the
Spanish federation was obliged to pay a 25000 SFR worth of fine.
Well… both teams needed victory, the Algerians more so, for that was their only chance to go ahead. Ambition is one thing, realization quite another – the match quickly deteriorated into brutality, initiated by Algeria, but joined by the Spaniards, for it was their traditional instinct. After the game the Japanese was heavily and rightly criticized: he lost control of the game and even did not bother to shower the players of both teams with yellow cards. With some red cards for good measure. But it was not easy to keep order in such explosive match – Algeria unhappy with game not going their way just unleashed violence and the Spaniards not only never shied away from murdering opponents, but it was almost a second nature to them and they did not need much push in this direction. But Spain scored goals, unlike Algeria – curiously, second stringers, on the pitch only because the regulars could not play, scored all three goals. Perhaps Munoz did not have much reason to wail that he is reduced to using his reserves after all. Spain secured place among the 1/8-finalists and everything was kind of fine. Kind of fine, for Munoz spoke little about the anti-football his team was too happy to play, reserving his observations for criticism of the brutal players – mostly Algerian beasts, of course – and the incompetent referee. The Algerian coach had little of worth to say, as is the typical case of losing coaches: he chose to put the blame on the injury of his regular goalkeeper. The back-up, what can you do, was not up to the task… conveniently forgetting that the goalkeeper was not guilty of any goal and it was not him serving victory to Brazil in the previous match. Strange as it was, but Spain was not really punished for using dope-positive player. Which of course begs the question of favoritism, back-room deals, the tendency to help teams with clout at the expense of those from the Third World.
1. BRA^ 3 3 0 0 6 5-0
2. ESP^ 3 2 0 1 4 5-2
3. NIR 3 0 1 2 1 2-6
4. ALG 3 0 1 2 1 1-5
Algeria was going home leaving few memories, mostly unpleasant ones. If they were wronged in 1982, this time they could only blame themselves. If anything, few questions were raised: if at least some representatives of African football developed really close to the leading European football, the Algerian example was of bitter kind: tough to beat, but brutal team. ‘Maturity’ seemed to be ability to hack, kick, and chop. Maturity seemed to be killing the game, lack of artistry, lack of imagination – just dull force, caring little for creativity. So… may be African football was not mature yet: Algeria deteriorated between 1982 and 1986. It took the worst elements of modern football and applied only them, discarding entirely constructive play. One would much prefer unsofisticated naive play with some joy, even ridden by mistakes. As it was, most people were relieved to see Algeria eliminated. The magic of 1982 was not repeated this time.
It all depends... for many, Morocco was a surprise; for others – Poland was not much at the moment and the result was expected. The Africans was the better team, especially when their opponents appeared to be sluggish and clueless on the field. Poland came to life only in the second half, only to discover that desire is not enough and Morocco has well organized defence. Largely, Poland was lucky to escape a loss. Piechniczek only wondered after the game how it was possible to play at the World Cup finals without any mood to win, but he also sounded resigned. Faria was all smiles, pointing out to the journalists that his Morocco only follows in the steps of Tunisia'78 and Algeria'82 – African football was no joke and there was no gap between African teams and the leading football nations now. 03.06.86 (16.00) Monterrey, Estadio Tecnologico POR - ENG 1:0 (0:0) (~23000) Roth GER, Dochev BUL, Al-Sharif SYR POR: Bento (c) - Alvaro, Frederico, Oliveira, Inacio - Diamantino (83 José Antonio), Jaime Pacheco, André, Sousa - Carlos Manuel, Gomes (73Futre) ENG: Shilton - G.M.Stevens, Fenwick, Butcher, Sansom - Hoddle, Robson (c - 60 Hodge), Wilkins, Waddle (80 Beardsley) - Hateley, Lineker 1:0 Carlos Manuel 75 booked: Jaime Pacheco / Fenwick, Butcher
It was expected to be interesting clash, but England was also expected to win – there was plenty of praise of Bobby Robson's team before the finals. A major favourite. Portugal was greatly promising team in 1984, but that was 2 years ago and meantime did not look like the Portuguese moved up. And the beginning of the match was true to expectations... England went into relentless attacks, Portugal hardly stepped in the English half of the field. With time, also became clear that England was not new, but old: speedy, hungry, dedicated to attack, but the same predictable straight-forward football they played for ages, lacking imagination, improvisation and surprise. England looked dangerous, but Portugal had no big difficulty defending, patiently waiting for their own chance. Bento was the hero, saving fantastic balls, England had no luck – and no luck, for there was no enough skill, and the minutes passed one after another. Then Portugal dropped the bomb – Futre replaced Gomes, somewhat late in the game, but what a surprise to the English players the youngster was... unpleasant surprise. Suddenly Portugal was incredibly dangerous, the English was too slow for Futre, and as soon as their efforts were concentrated on stopping him, other dangers loomed, ending with a goal in the net Shilton. And there was no answer to it, although there was still plenty of time. Surprise, surprise, England lost. Robson blamed the loss on rotten luck: one mistake and the opponents scored... dominating performance, so many scoring opportunities and nothing... rotten luck. Torres recalled the past – in 1966 the team he played in lost to England and now he was happy to take revenge. He had worries, though, still unvoiced – the 37-years old Bento, who played fantastic match, injured himself in a clash with Lineker. Most likely to be out for the rest of the championship... which was too bad, for not only the captain was in wonderful form, but he also inspired by example. 06.06.86 (16.00) Monterrey, Estadio Tecnologico ENG - MAR 0:0 (+20000) González PAR, Kirschen DDR, Espsito ARG ENG: Shilton - G.M.Stevens, Fenwick, Butcher, Sansom - Hoddle, Robson (c - 42 Hodge), Wilkins - Waddle, Hateley (76 G.A.Stevens), Lineker MAR: Zaki (c) - Khalifi, El Biaz, Bouyahyaoui, Lemriss (74 Ouadani) – Dolmy, Timoumi, Khairi, M.Merry (88 Souleymani) - Bouderbala, Krimau booked: Wilkins, Hateley / Khalifi, Khairi sent off: Wilkins (42)
England had to win this match, no other way. Robson apparently tried to change the approach – expecting defensive play from the Moroccans, the ball was kept in midfield, controlled by the English in hope that the Moroccans will be lured to move a bit forward and thus open some space. But Faria's boys did not not... they were disciplined squad, knowing what to do. England was confronted by tied, well organized defensive team, which had skillful players able to organize deadly fast counterattacks. Because of the sheep brutality displayed in Group E, little attention was paid to what was going on the pitch in other groups – chopping and hacking was plentiful here too, the 'fair' English already collected 2 yellow cards in the first match, now, perhaps bitter that once again they could not prevail, nerves showed again, culminating with the expulsion of Ray Wilkins in the 42nd minute. The second half Morocco had one man advantage and life was easier for them: they attacked rarely and Shilton had nothing to do practically the whole game, but look at the other side: England attacked constantly and Zaki, the Moroccon goalkeeper, had nothing to do as well – English strikers were blocked early, there was dominance, but no opportunities for kicking the ball toward Zaki's net. Hollow dominance and 0-0 at the final whistle. Robson confessed that he did not expect such organized play from Morocco. If he really did not study Morocco... how was one of the hottest coaches in the world at the moment? Most likely Robson chose to take the blame on himself, hiding much bitterer truth: he had no other options, especially in midfield, and could not change anything – Bryan Robson, Hoddle, Waddle were good, but hardly on the same level with the world class midfielders. And they had problems with injuries on top of it. Ray Wilkins perhaps was a mistake as an idea – moved back as defensive midfielder, the veteran was a player of the old British school, dragging unwittingly his teammates into the kind of football which did not work for years. Hateley was similar – a classic English center-forward – so the game quickly deteriorated into the old ineffective kick and run approach with crosses aimed at the center-forward. Lineker's mobility and surprise was lost in such football, so well known and predicatble by now, that Morocco had no trouble blocking all English efforts. Faria even did not have to say much after the game, not even boast. 07.06.86 (16.00) Monterrey, Estadio Universitario POL - POR 1:0 (0:0) (-20000) POL: Młynarczyk - Pawlak, Wójcicki, Majewski, Ostrowski – Matysik, Komornicki (57 Karaś), Boniek (c) - Smolarek (75 Zgutczyński), Dziekanowski, Urban POR: Damas - Alvaro, Frederico, Oliveira, Inacio - Diamantino, Jaime Pacheco, André (73 J.Magalhaes), Sousa - Carlos Manuel, Gomes (c - 46 Futre) 1:0 Smolarek 64 booked: Wójcicki, Dziekanowski
Third match – third surprise! Portugal was seen as the favourite here, but Bento broke his leg in training – very likely the bruises collected against England helped – and that required some changes. Since Portugal needed only a point to reach the next round, the change was relative – increasing the defensive approach, taking special care to kill attacks early, for Damas, 38-years old, had enourmous experience, but played little for the national team and he was no Bento. And worries about Damas were well justified... once he made mistake and the game was to lost. Poland played nothing again, the combination Boniek-Smolarek did not work as it used to, although skill and experience helped when mattered: Smolarek did not miss the chance and scored the only goal in the match. There was nothing good to say about the quality of football played, but the Polish win elevated this group as the most intriguing one: before the last round no team qualified yet, everyone had a chance to go ahead – or to be eliminated. This situation also brought hopes that now, when it was all or nothing, the teams will play some interesting football at last. 11.06.86 (16.00) Monterrey, Estadio Universitario ENG - POL 3:0 (3:0) (-23000) Daina SUI, Christov CZE, Brummeier AUT ENG: Shilton (c) - G.M.Stevens, Fenwick, Butcher, Sansom - Hoddle, Steven, Hodge, Reid - Beardsley (76 Waddle), Lineker (86 Dixon) POL: Młynarczyk - Pawlak, Wójcicki, Majewski, Ostrowski - Matysik (46 Buncol), Komornicki (24 Karaś), Boniek, Smolarek - Dziekanowski, Urban 1:0 Lineker 8, 2:0 Lineker 14, 3:0 Lineker 36 booked: Fenwick
What to do? Piechniczek did nothing. Boniek-Smolarek. There was nobody else anyway, certainly nobody promising at the moment. Robson, however, changed four players, a radical rework of the midfield – Wilkins was suspended, Robson and Hateley so far disappointed. The changes worked, though – England was immediately different, Lineker got better feed and support and suddenly he became exactly what he should have been from start: the prime striker. Poland had no answer – the most coach and team could do was having a big 'manly' discussion after the match with Portugal. Since Poland could not change anything else, all came to familiar pep-talk 'to show character'. It worked somewhat – Poland came to life and with that, to peril. Lineker scored 3 goals in the first half and character or no character, the campaign was over. Poland tried to score, but Shilton prevented all efforts to change the result. Robson was relieved at the end, Piechniczek... just as well, for there was radio and the other group match ended at the same time: Poland was not going home yet. 11.06.86 (16.00) Monterrey, Estadio Tecnologico MAR - POR 3:1 (2:0) (-24000) Snoddy NIR, Roth GER, Butenko ZSR MAR: Zaki (c) - Khalifi, El Biaz, Bouyahyaoui, Lemriss (69 Amanallah) – Dolmy, El Haddaoui (71 Souleymani), Timoumi, Khairi - Bouderbala, Krimau POR: Damas - Alvaro (55 Rui Aguas), Frederico, Oliveira, Inacio – Pacheco, J.Magalhaes, Sousa (69 Diamantino), Carlos Manuel - Gomes (c), Futre 1:0 Khairi 19, 2:0 Khairi 28, 3:0 Krimau 62, 3:1 Diamantino 90 booked: Gomes
All or nothing for both teams, but it was expected that Portugal will prevail – Morocco may crumble under pressure, so was the wisdom. A tie would have been a nightmare, though – both teams would be not only with the same points, but with exactly the same goal-difference. It would have been even worse if England-Poland also ended in a tie. Calculations slightly favoured Portugal if the match was tied. Morocco's calculations were different: Polish loss was bad for them, a tie was not going to work in their favour. May be. It was so complicated, that the development of this match required constant listening to what was going on in the other group match and re-adjustments during the game, a very difficult task, if possible at all. Thus, Morocco seemingly placed their bets on Portuguese cautious defensive approach and chose to attack. It worked and they scored. England scored as well, so now it was different game – Portugal needed to attack, Morocco was prepared to use fully the moment and soon managed to score a second goal – good shots both times, but Damas was no Bento for sure: no heroics from him. The second half was a matter of maturity: Portugal was unable to convert its play into more dangerous attacking approach and Morocco defended itself well, helped by its own lead and the known result in the other game. Only after scoring their third goal the Africans lowered their guard and Portugal managed to scored one goal. After the match Faria was pleased to recall how the same journalists sarcastically laughed at his words in the previous press-conferences: well, they laughed, but he was right! Who was going to laugh now? Everything happened exactly as he said it will before the games started: the European teams would fight each other to no clear success of any and Morocco had a good chance to go ahead when nobody was looking. Look at the final table, if you please. As for the future – Faria would not dare speculate, he was happy that his team achieved undeniable success already. 1. MAR^ 3 1 2 0 4 3-1 2. ENG^ 3 1 1 1 3 3-1 3. POL^ 3 1 1 1 3 1-3 4. POR 3 1 0 2 2 2-4
Portugal was going home. Perhaps rightly so, although it was chancy elimination in this group. There were few things working against this team: one, Portugal did not developed further after 1984 – rather, stepped down a bit. Second, the team lost two very important players – first Chalana, quite a long time before the World Cup and Bento after the first group game. Both were practically irreplaceable and their absence affected negatively the team's play. And Gomes was getting old by now and perhaps not the same deadly striker anymore, especially when there were limited opportunities. Third, Paulo Futre was still very young, a promising, but not yet a key player with central role. Without Chalana and with Futre not yet at his prime, Portugal had no real creative playmaker to make difference on the pitch. Forth, too much calculating – Portugal seemingly played with caution, aiming at securing a point and if some chance came up – only then may be a win. But such approach made it very difficult to switch into openly attacking football when the result was negative. Too much caution made them lose at the end and not only that, but Portugal hardly left memorable moments of its performance.
