Group 6. Theoretically, Denmark and USSR, both teams ascending rapidly, were the favourites and Switzerland and Ireland could make trouble now and then, but short of miracle, neither was going to the finals. Norway was the outsider. At the beginning of the qualifications, miracle glimpsed possible for awhile: USSR lost the very first match of the group 0-1 in Dublin and a month later was tied 1-1 by the Norwegians in Oslo. But Ireland was not a team able to get advantage, using games with weaker teams – they lost in Oslo and ended 0-0 in Dublin against Norway. Meantime, Denmark was steady and there were no surprises – they lost away to Switzerland, which was not a surprise and, predictably, lost to USSR in Moscow, but got all points they needed from the other games. Switzerland was also as expected to be: playing as good as they could, upsetting some teams at home, but also getting upset in other games. USSR perhaps benefited from their schedule: they did it many times before and now again – making a schedule in which most of their home games were late in the schedule,when other results were known, some teams had no more games to play, and it was easy to calculate exactly what was needed. Such crafty schemes sometimes worked, sometimes did not, this time worked.
1.DAN^ 8 11 5 1 2 17- 6
Denmark had steady run from start to finish of qualifications, the team was great and at the end topped the group. But it was not quick victory – it had to wait until the very last round and there was a slight chance danger of elimination – theoretical danger: Switzerland had 7 points before its last home game against Norway and Denmark with 9 points was visiting Ireland. If Denmark lost and the Swiss won… but it was in the realm of the fantastic – the Danes had +8 goal-difference, the Swiss -5 and had to win 11-0 and Denmark lose 0-5. Impossible. Denmark won 4-1 in Dublin and the Swiss did not even win in Lucerne: 1-1.
2.ZSR^ 8 10 4 2 2 13- 8
The Soviets started poorly, but that was in 1984. Five of their games were in 1985, 4 of them at home and the last three conveniently not only at home, but in the early fall – late in the group schedule, so it was easy to calculate what was needed and even more importantly, at the time when the Soviet season was in its second half and everybody in perfect from. Their opponents were just beginning their season and not yet in strong shape. Before those last 3 games USSR had 4 points from 5 games and that was in the beginning of June. Then – in September and October – USSR took advantage of their scheme: Switzerland stumbled twice with home ties and the maximum points they could end with was 9. USSR won 1-0 over Denmark and had 6 points now. Ireland could finish with 12 in theory, but only if winning in Moscow – USSR won the game, though: 2-0. What remained was home match againts Norway – a sure win – and no matter how the other games ended, the Soviets were going to the World Cup. They won 1-0, as expected. They finished second in the group, but it did not matter – the goal was achieved. It was not some overwhelming success – it was rather cunning and calculated: USSR’s crucial victories were minimal and if those games were away matches instead of home ones, it was not at all certain they could win them.
3.SUI 8 8 2 4 2 5-10
Switzerland was expected to fight for the 3rd place with Ireland and they did precisely that. For awhile they seemingly had a chance to reach Mexico, but it was an illusion – Switzerland lost points at home. This is the squad against USSR, which managed 2-2 in Bern in April 1985. After that they lost 2 away games and quite badly – 0-4 against USSR and 0-3 against Ireland. And after that – three home ties, losing ground match after match until the last one became meaningless.
4.IRL 8 6 2 2 4 5-10
The Irish played according to their predicament: limited resources. They were even in worse situation than Northern Ireland, because apart of Brady, O’Leary, and Lawrence, there was nobody else and Brady and O’Leary aged dangerously by now. So, they did what they could – depended mostly on spirit. Got 8 points, took 4th place. Could have been 10 points, if they won their last match in Dublin against the Danes – but their foes were much classier squad and also driven by ambition. And not only that – the game was played at the same time when Switzerland played at home with Norway, a match the Swiss were expected to win and even if the Irish won theirs, they were going to lose on worse goal-difference. Denmark destroyed them 4-1. Spirit is spirit, class is class.
5.NOR 8 5 1 3 4 4-10
Norway was the outsider of the group, so they were expected to finish last. But it was a group with convenient opponents and the Norwegian football was slowly improving since 1980, so they got points. Standing from, left: Age Hareide, Vidar Davidsen, Kai-Erik Hervolsen, Erik Thorstvedt, Tom Sundby, Jorn Andersen. Crouching: Hans Herman Henriksen, Svein Fjaelberg, Per-Egil Ahlsen, Arne-Larsen Okland, Hallvar Thoresen. A group of respected, if not real stars, players, well established in foreign clubs – Thorstvedt, Thoresen, Hareide, Sundby – but hardly enough to do more than difficulties for stronger teams. The Norwegians did well from their own perspective: almost equal to all others, getting points here and there, never losing terribly. But when Denmark stepped on the pedal and started flying, there was no way… Norway lost 5-1 to the Danes in Oslo. The blow came in the second half – the first ended 1-0 Norway. That was the difference at that time: Norway was not yet a strong team, it was just improving outsider.
Group 7. The battle for 1st place was inevitable – only the group winner qualified directly to the finals, the second placed was going to play-off. Not a difficult play-off – against the winner of Oceania – but still a play-off. So, Spain and Scotland were going to fight for top position, Spain expected to win. Scotland was weaker compared to the teams they had in the 1970s; Spain performed very well at the 1984 European finals. And having Wales in the group was more of a handicap for Scotland, for British teams traditionally played ferociously against each other, the weaker ones taking particular pride in making life difficult for the stronger. Not only Wales made trouble for Scotland, but this time they even tried to qualify, so relatively easy group turned out to be difficult one, practically decided by the smart scheduling of the Spaniards – like USSR, Spain managed to get their last two games against Iceland, the first away and the very last match in the group – at home. And the schedule did it: Spain won in Reykjavik, as expected, and then watched Wales and Scotland kill each other in Cardiff: 1-1. Now both British teams finished their games with 7 points each. Spain had 6 and home match against Iceland. They won it and finished on top.
1.ESP^ 6 8 4 0 2 9- 8
Spain effectively qualified taking full advantage of Iceland. Against Scotland and Wales Spain lost both away games with alarming results: 1-3 in Glasgow and 0-3 in Wrexham. It was home wins against direct rivals and difficult, miserable victories over Iceland, 2-1 both matches. Barely enough to win the group and performing quite poorly – it looked like 1984 was an accident not to be repeated again. Back to the gritty football endearing no one of the 1970s. Perhaps Spain even had to thank to Wales for its lucky first place.
2.SCO> 6 7 3 1 2 8- 4
Scottish football deteriorated quite a lot in the 1980s, a tendency started back in the 70s, slowly nibbling at the Scottish pool of players – it was not the spirit and not that much the playing scheme, but the quality of players. They were fewer quality players and the bright individuals – even less. Ten years ago there were still quarrels why some players were selected and others left out, there was plenty of good players to chose from. Now Scotland was more like the Irish and Wales: a handful of stars and nobody around them. Dalglish and Souness were at their last legs, but it was almost impossible to replace them, especially when things were rough and urgent. From the next generation… practically only Gordon Strachan was European class. So, the going was difficult – Scotland lost first place at home, finishing 0-0 with Wales. And may be the Scots assessed rightly their own team, because there was no great fuss over finishing second: somehow, they expected exactly that and concentrated on their real chance to get ticket to Mexico – the play-off against the winner of Oceania.
3.WAL 6 7 3 1 2 7- 6
Wales was perhaps the only team one could be sorry for – they were just unlucky, an underdog which almost came on top. Almost… almost does not count. Such team Wales did not have for 10 years already: two great stars, one of them world-class – Ian Rush and Mark Hughes – made them lethal in atatck. Southall was solid goalkeeper – may be not great, but solid, the first solid keeper for a very long time. Mickey Thomas was hardly a first-rate player, but he was spirited and able to influence his teammates. What Wales had at the moment was similar to what the two Irish teams had and, more importantly, what Scotland had. With one tiny advantage – Wales had current stars, whereas the Scots had veterans. But Wales lacked the experience needed for games with weaker teams – they lost to Iceland 0-1 in Reykjavik. This was the very first match in the group and it was the one which robbed Wales from otherwise deserved success. What they managed to do, however, was to cancel the chances of Scotland for winning the group – the Welsh tied the Scots 0-0 in Glasgow, thus practically giving the first place to Spain. Worse goal-difference took away from them the second place. Unlucky, but they had only themselves to blame: if only they tied the first match in Reykjavik – but they lost it.
4.ISL 6 2 1 0 5 4-10
Nothing was expected from Iceland and Iceland modestly did not expect anything – they were outsiders. General improvement and some good players based in European clubs increased the reputation of the team – it was no longer enough just to show and the game was won: now one had to be careful and play seriously in order of prevailing over Iceland. Prevailing was the world, but so far Iceland was not prevailing, their opponents were. So, Iceland ended quite satisfactory – they won only one match, but made life very difficult for all their opponents, both at home and away. Nobody managed to beat Iceland by more than a goal and Spain trembled to the very last minute of the second match, for they needed to win both matches and Iceland was not giving up.