Group 3 was unpredictable, like Group 2 at first: Cyprus did not count, but Spain, Yugoslavia, and Romania not only were matched, but had all scores to settle. They competed for a place at the 1978 World Cup finals. Before that Spain and Romania were together and earlier Yugoslavia and Spain went to extra match to decide who goes to 1974 World Cup. Nobody could know it when the first group matches were played, but they decided the final outcome. Yugoslavia lost at home to Spain 1-2 and then away to Romania 2-3. A bad start, but the tournament was still young, so nothing really terrible. And Yugoslavia won their remaining group matches. Meantime Spain managed to tie their away match in Romania. Spain had another small advantage – they played the very last game scheduled. They were visitors, but visiting Cyprus was hardly a trouble. Yugoslavia ended their campaign with 8 points. Spain was trailing with 7. The Yugoslavs could hope only for a miracle. Spain just won 3-1.
To a point, the squad above, which won 3-0 away in Cyprus, tells why Yugoslavia finished 2nd. After 1976 the national team was a mess – players were changed all the time, experiments were constant, there was hardly a core of stars and practically no new team emerged. This squad is no different – few established stars – Surjak, Peruzovic, Hadzic, few talented youngsters, who will be key players later, but were not ready yet – Zajec, Zlatko Vujovic, Stojkovic; and the rest was just those in good current form, but with the exception of Savic, none really lasted long in the national team, let alone becoming a star. Shaky team.
Spain largely depended on the team they had at the 1978 World Cup – not an exciting team, but gritty, tough one. Fighters. This is the squad which tied 2-2 Romania – as it turned out, the most important match Spain played, for the point they got qualified them at the end.
1. Spain 4 1 1 13-5 9
2. Yugoslavia 4 0 2 14-6 8
3. Romania 2 2 2 9-8 6
4. Cyprus 0 1 5 2-19 1