The USA went into last night’s game with Trinidad and Tobago all but assured of a place at next year’s World Cup, which would have made it eight successive qualifications. Nobody was prepared for what came next. A 2-1 defeat, coupled with victories for Honduras and Panama, saw them fall from third to fifth, missing out in dramatic fashion.
It was a devastating blow as only that unique and unexpected combination of results, which remarkably came to pass, could have seen them drop out of contention. It’s scant consolation, but they’re not alone in imploding with the finishing line in sight. Plenty of countries have made a mess out of favourable situations and straightforward qualifying groups.
England – World Cup 1974
A classic of the genre that brought Alf Ramsey’s 11-year reign as England manager to an end. In a three-team group where only the winner would go to the World Cup, Poland stole top spot. With progress treated as a mere formality by the media, the team squandered their chance spectacularly. They got off to a positive start by beating Wales in Cardiff, but then drew with them at Wembley before losing 2-0 away to a brutal Poland.
Still, England’s fate was in their own hands heading into the final group game. Jan Domarski’s shot went under Peter Shilton to put the visitors in front early in the second half but Allan Clarke equalised from the spot. Then erratic goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski came into his own. Infamously described as a ‘circus clown in gloves’ by Brian Clough, he was in inspired form to prevent England from finding a vital winner.
Netherlands – World Cup 1986
Three-time World Cup finalists without a trophy to show for it, the Netherlands are international football’s perennial nearly men. If missing out on next year’s tournament in Russia was disappointing, given the players at their disposal failure to make Mexico ’86 was an unmitigated disaster. Blessed with the bulk of the squad that would go on to win the European Championships in 1988, they lost out in dramatic circumstances.
The Netherlands were beaten by Hungary and Austria in their first two group games but recovered well to snatch the runner-up spot and head into a play-off with neighbours Belgium. With five minutes remaining of the second leg, they were 2-1 up on aggregate and set to qualify. Unfortunately, young defender Georges Grun powered in a late header to send Belgium through on away goals. Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and the rest were forced to stay home.
France – World Cup 1994
For self-sabotaging stupidity, France’s efforts to reach the 1994 World Cup take some beating. Top of their group with two home games remaining, a single point was needed to guarantee their progress. It would require failure of epic proportions for Gerard Houllier’s men to miss out. Somehow, that’s just what happened, irreparably damaging some players’ relationships with their manager and national team in the process.
France went behind to bottom side Israel but came back to lead 2-1. In the 83rd minute the visitors took advantage of some terrible defending to equalise and preyed on even more indecision to find an injury-time winner. The whole campaign came down to a meeting with Bulgaria at the Parc des Princes in November 1993. Having led through Eric Cantona’s strike, France still had the draw they needed heading into the final moments, when David Ginola’s overhit cross allowed them to spring a decisive counter attack. Emil Kostadinov’s second sent them through at the hosts’ expense.
Egypt – World Cup 2010
Given their enviable record in the Africa Cup of Nations, where seven titles makes them the competition’s most successful team of all time, Egypt have traditionally struggled in World Cup qualification. On Sunday they made it through for the first time since 1990 courtesy of Mohamed Salah’s brace. The long and torturous wait had finally come to an end, although it should have happened much sooner.
In 2010, as the World Cup came to Africa for the first time, the continent’s best team – a fact confirmed by their third successive Nations Cup triumph earlier that same year – had to watch on longingly. In the final group stage, where only the top team would qualify for the tournament proper, Egypt finished level on points with Algeria. The two countries also had identical overall and head-to-head records, leading to a one-off tiebreaker in Sudan. A long-running rivalry again spilled over into scuffles and violence, while, on the pitch, Antar Yahia scored the only goal.
