Europe. Group 1. Easy group with unquestionable favourite, no matter current form – West Germany. Bulgaria and Austria were to fight for the 2nd spot, Austria slightly having the edge, because Bulgaria was in disarray and the Austrians had strong generation, already impressive at the 1978 World Cup finals. The other three teams were outsiders. At the end, the direct clashes between Bulgaria and Austria decided the second finalist: Austria prevailed with a win and tie.
1.West Germany^ 8 16 8 0 0 33- 3
2.Austria^ 8 11 5 1 2 16- 6
3.Bulgaria 8 9 4 1 3 11-10
4.Albania 8 2 1 0 7 4-22
5.Finland 8 2 1 0 7 4-27
West Germany not losing even a point in this campaign – fantastic record and going to the finals as one of the biggest favourites.
From left: Krankl, Feurer, Pezzey, Dihanich, Mirnegg, Hattenberger, Prohaska, Jara, Keglevits, Weber, Welzl. The team was perhaps at its peak.
Group 2. Arguably, the toughest one – Holland, France, and Belgium were expected to fight for 2 spots, but unexpectedly Ireland joined the leaders and the entanglement depended much on direct results. Holland lost the race first and Belgium was the first to qualify, but really the battle went to the very last group game – true, only miracle would have discarded France then, for they were hosting Cyprus, but theoretically Ireland still had a chance. But only in theory – France won 4-0. To a point, it was the schedule – France played the last three games of the group, thus, knowing precisely what they needed against opponents not able to make any corrections.
1.Belgium^ 8 11 5 1 2 12- 9
2.France^ 8 11 5 0 3 20- 8
3.Ireland 8 10 4 2 2 17-11
4.Holland 8 9 4 1 3 11- 7
5.Cyprus 8 0 0 0 8 4-29
Belgium running high – they were always taken seriously, but after their splendid European championship expectations climbed up a notch. They delivered and were to play their first World Cup since 1980.
Standing, left to right: Gerard Janvion, Phillipe Mahut, Maxime Bossis, Pierrick Hiard, Alain Moizan, Christian Lopez.
Bottom, left to right: Jean-Francois Larios, Alain Giresse, Michel Platini, Jacques Zimako, Didier Six.
Not only because of Platini many fans and pundits rooted for France – it would have been a shame this wonderful team to miss the finals.
Of course, not everybody was happy with the finals standings, but one thing was undeniable: Holland was in decline, Republic of Ireland had more enthusiasm than class, Belgium and France were bright, up and coming teams and deserved to grace the finals most of all.