Group B – Football Journey

Group B. Playing in Mexico City and Toluca. Mexico, Belgium, Paraguay, Iraq.

Head coach: Guy Thys

No.

Pos.

Player

Date of birth (age)

Caps

Club

Jean-Marie Pfaff

4 December 1953 (aged 32)

Bayern Munich

Eric Gerets

18 May 1954 (aged 32)

PSV

Franky Van Der Elst

30 April 1961 (aged 25)

Club Brugge

Michel de Wolf

19 January 1958 (aged 28)

Gent

Michel Renquin

3 November 1955 (aged 30)

Standard Liège

Franky Vercauteren

28 October 1956 (aged 29)

Anderlecht

René Vandereycken

22 July 1953 (aged 32)

Anderlecht

Enzo Scifo

19 February 1966 (aged 20)

Anderlecht

Erwin Vandenbergh

26 January 1959 (aged 27)

Anderlecht

Philippe Desmet

29 November 1958 (aged 27)

Waregem

Jan Ceulemans (Captain)

28 February 1957 (aged 29)

Club Brugge

Jacky Munaron

8 September 1956 (aged 29)

Anderlecht

Georges Grün

25 January 1962 (aged 24)

Anderlecht

Lei Clijsters

6 November 1956 (aged 29)

Waterschei Thor

Leo Van Der Elst

7 January 1962 (aged 24)

Club Brugge

Nico Claesen

7 October 1962 (aged 23)

Standard Liège

Raymond Mommens

27 December 1958 (aged 27)

Lokeren

Daniel Veyt

9 December 1956 (aged 29)

Waregem

Hugo Broos

10 April 1952 (aged 34)

Club Brugge

Gilbert Bodart

2 September 1962 (aged 23)

Standard Liège

Stéphane Demol

11 March 1966 (aged 20)

Anderlecht

Patrick Vervoort

17 January 1965 (aged 21)

Beerschot

Guy Thys and his well known boys were the strongest team in the group – by reputation. The troubles of 1984 were long gone, no more suspended players, so the revered coach had everybody at hand. ‘The Red Devils’ always tried their best, reliable team with massive experience, which so far made smooth transitions despite the obvious limits a small pool of players presented. Pfaff, Gerets, Ceulemans, Renquin, Vandereicken, Vercauteren, Vanderbergh, Broos were more than well known names and they had younger players of quality next to them including 20-years old Scifo, already an international star. The group was easy enough and even if Belgium did not finish on top, it was going to reach the next stage.

Mexico.

Head coach: Bora Milutinović

No.

Pos.

Player

Date of birth (age)

Caps

Club

Pablo Larios

31 July 1960 (aged 25)

N/A

Cruz Azul

Mario Trejo

11 February 1956 (aged 30)

N/A

América

Fernando Quirarte

17 May 1956 (aged 30)

N/A

Guadalajara

Armando Manzo

16 October 1958 (aged 27)

N/A

América

Francisco Javier Cruz

24 May 1966 (aged 20)

N/A

Monterrey

Carlos de los Cobos

10 December 1958 (aged 27)

N/A

América

Miguel España

4 April 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

UNAM Pumas

Alejandro Domínguez

9 February 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

América

Hugo Sánchez

11 July 1958 (aged 27)

N/A

Real Madrid

Tomás Boy (Captain)

5 July 1953 (aged 32)

N/A

Tigres

Carlos Hermosillo

24 August 1964 (aged 21)

N/A

América

Ignacio Rodríguez

13 August 1959 (aged 26)

N/A

Atlante

Javier Aguirre

1 December 1958 (aged 27)

N/A

América

Felix Cruz

4 April 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

UNAM Pumas

Luis Flores

8 August 1962 (aged 23)

N/A

UNAM Pumas

Carlos Muñoz

8 September 1962 (aged 23)

N/A

Tigres

Raúl Servín

29 April 1963 (aged 23)

N/A

UNAM Pumas

Rafael Amador

16 February 1959 (aged 27)

N/A

UNAM Pumas

Javier Hernández

1 August 1961 (aged 24)

N/A

Tecos

Olaf Heredia

19 October 1957 (aged 28)

N/A

Tigres

Cristóbal Ortega

25 July 1956 (aged 29)

N/A

América

Manuel Negrete

15 May 1959 (aged 27)

N/A

UNAM Pumas

The hosts had a good chance to win the group, but more likely to finish second and go ahead. They were not seen as a big favourite and even at home seemingly nobody expected them to become world champions, but all measures were taken for solid performance. Bora Milutinovic already established himself as the best coach in Mexico, he was there for years – first as a player and then as a coach – so he knew Mexican football well, he was young coach with contemporary ideas and also was easy to work with. The strongest asset of his team was, of course, Hugo Sanchez at the peak of his form and fame, but there few other very good players as well: Boy, Quirarte, Larios, Negrete, Hermosillo. Perhaps goalkeeping was the weakness of the team, but there was nothing to do about it. Mexico was certainly not one of the big favourites, but were expected to reach 1/8 finals at least.

Paraguay.

Head coach: Cayetano Ré

No.

Pos.

Player

Date of birth (age)

Caps

Club

Roberto Fernández

9 July 1954 (aged 31)

Deportivo Cali

Juan Torales

9 May 1956 (aged 30)

Libertad

César Zabala

3 June 1961 (aged 24)

N/A

Cerro Porteño

Vladimiro Schettina

8 October 1955 (aged 30)

N/A

Guaraní

Rogelio Delgado (Captain)

12 October 1959 (aged 26)

N/A

Olimpia

Jorge Amado Nunes

18 October 1961 (aged 24)

N/A

Deportivo Cali

Buenaventura Ferreira

4 July 1960 (aged 25)

N/A

Deportivo Cali

Julio César Romero

28 August 1960 (aged 25)

N/A

Fluminense

Roberto Cabañas

11 April 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

América de Cali

Adolfino Cañete

13 September 1956 (aged 29)

N/A

Cruz Azul

Alfredo Mendoza

31 December 1963 (aged 22)

N/A

Independiente Medellín

Jorge Battaglia

12 May 1960 (aged 26)

N/A

Sol de America

Virginio Cáceres

21 May 1962 (aged 24)

N/A

Guaraní

Luis Caballero

17 September 1962 (aged 23)

N/A

Guaraní

Eufemio Cabral

21 March 1955 (aged 31)

N/A

Guaraní

Jorge Guasch

17 January 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

Olimpia

Francisco Alcaraz

4 October 1960 (aged 25)

N/A

Nacional

Evaristo Isasi

26 October 1955 (aged 30)

N/A

Olimpia

Rolando Chilavert

22 May 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

Guaraní

Ramón Hicks

30 May 1959 (aged 27)

N/A

Libertad

Faustino Alonso

15 February 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

Sol de America

Julián Coronel

23 October 1958 (aged 27)

N/A

Guaraní

A mystery team. Apart from two internationally recognized stars – Romero and Cabanas – both the team and its coach were practically unknown outside South America. No big scandals surrounded the team, so it looked like Paraguay was preparing calmly for the finals, but how good or bad they were was anybody’s guess. Whatever reputation Paraguayan football had was very old and limited: sturdy fighters. Thus, more inclined to brutality than anything else. Romero rivaled Maradona, but that was in the late 1970s, when both were under 20 years of age. He had great season in 1985, playing in Brazil, but both he and Cabanas were a bit suspect to European observers, because the Paraguayan stars chose to play for Cosmos (New York) and it was easy to shine in the old-men resting home, what the now defunct NASL was. No current Paraguayan player was playing in Europe, the real test for quality. Little was known about Paraguayan football at all and it was not helpful: Olimpia (Asuncion) was the strongest team for years and they even won the Intercontinental Cup, but the national team had few players from Olimpia – looked like it was based on Guarani and mostly playing in Colombia foreign-based players. It was even a bit surprising that the squad was relatively young, including Romero and Cabanas. Somehow, Paraguay was seen as taking 3rd place in the group – may be tough opponent, but unlikely to surprise neither Mexico, nor Belgium.

Iraq.

Head coach: Evaristo de Macedo

No.

Pos.

Player

Date of birth (age)

Caps

Club

Raad Hammoudi (Captain)

20 April 1958 (aged 28)

N/A

Al-Shorta

Maad Ibrahim

30 June 1960 (aged 25)

N/A

Al-Rasheed

Khalil Allawi

6 September 1958 (aged 27)

N/A

Al-Rasheed

Nadhim Shaker

13 April 1958 (aged 28)

N/A

Al-Tayaran

Samir Shaker

28 February 1958 (aged 28)

N/A

Al-Rasheed

Ali Hussein Shihab

5 May 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

Al-Talaba

Haris Mohammed

3 March 1958 (aged 28)

N/A

Al-Rasheed

Ahmed Radhi

21 March 1964 (aged 22)

N/A

Al-Rasheed

Karim Saddam

26 May 1960 (aged 26)

N/A

Al-Jaish

Hussein Saeed

21 January 1958 (aged 28)

N/A

Al-Talaba

Rahim Hameed

23 May 1963 (aged 23)

N/A

Al-Jaish

Jamal Ali

2 February 1956 (aged 30)

N/A

Al-Talaba

Karim Allawi

1 April 1960 (aged 26)

N/A

Al-Rasheed

Basil Gorgis

15 January 1961 (aged 25)

N/A

Al-Shabab

Natiq Hashim

15 January 1960 (aged 26)

N/A

Al-Tayaran

Shaker Mahmoud

5 May 1960 (aged 26)

N/A

Al-Shabab

Anad Abid

3 August 1955 (aged 30)

N/A

Al-Rasheed

Ismail Mohammed Sharif

19 January 1962 (aged 24)

N/A

Al-Shabab

Basim Qasim

22 March 1959 (aged 27)

N/A

Al-Shorta

Fatah Nasif

2 February 1951 (aged 35)

N/A

Al-Jaish

Ahmad Jassim

4 May 1960 (aged 26)

N/A

Al-Rasheed

Ghanim Oraibi

16 August 1961 (aged 24)

N/A

Al-Shabab

Well, outsiders. No matter how heroic was to reach world cup finals during war and unable to play any games at home, Iraq was non-entity in football. Pure exotica. Most of the background, the gruesome details of the background, surfaced after the World Cup finals, so at the moment it was taken for granted that the rulers of Iraq were pouring money and promises to the team – other African and Asian countries did it before, but there was no way to make weak team better just by that. Like many third-world countries, Iraq employed foreign coach and that was the biggest news about them. Yet, even that was uncertain thing… the West German magazine Kicker, one of the most reliable sources of information, introduced the Iraqi coach as Eduardo Antunes Coimbra, 39-years old Brazilian. The name meant nothing… but it was not nothing: to the football world he was known as Edu, when he was a player, and he was the older brother of Zico. Trivia… the player was a star, his brother was mega-star, the coach was unknown. However, he was not the coach of the team at the finals – it was another Brazilian: Evaristo de Macedo. In fact, there was more: the original Brazilian coach Jorge Vieira was sacked after qualifying Iraq to the finals, Edu was hired, and was sacked just a month before the finals and replaced with Evaristo de Macedo. Evaristo, if anything, had much more impressive background than Edu: as a player, he played for Flamengo, Barcelona, and Real Madrid, plus the Brazilian national team, and as coach had massive experience, including briefly coaching Brazil in 1985. Well, that was almost all what could be said about Iraq… But another thing was a problem, ever-lasting problem. Not a new one, but gradually getting bigger and bigger and never solved: how many games players of African and Asian teams actually played? A matter of statistics. To this very day there is no solution – the reason why the ISSF does not risk numbers and choosing ‘N/A’. Kicker, however, supplied numbers as given by Iraqi Federation – according to them, the goalkeeper Hammoudi played 92 games for Iraq. Impossible to confirm… FIFA already placed question marks and was not really recognizing such information, for if it was true, a large number of African and Asian players played astonishing number of national team games – much more than players form Europe and South America, but checking yearly schedules there were no enough international matches for so many appearances. The numbers were obviously doctored or entirely made up. What exactly were Asians and Africans counting? Nobody will ever know… but it was unbelievable. Just compare: Peter Shilton, already 37 years old and member of the English national team since 1971 arrived in Mexico with 78 caps. True, he had strong competition in the 1970s, but England also had busy international schedule. Which rarely went above 10 games per year. It was impossible Iraq had more yearly international games than England. Even if it did, it was still suspect, because the second Iraqi goalie, Nusseyef, was listed with 50 caps. Statistical mystery or not, Iraq was an outsider, destined to finish last in the group.