Next week, we will know who our qualifying opponents will be for WC 2014. There will be plenty of forensic analysis of each opponent we get, but I'll save that for other threads. But how have we done in other groups down through recent years?
1990:
We had just qualified for Euro 88, when the draw was made for the Italian World Cup. As 4th seeds in a 5-team group, everyone else in the group bar Malta, had made the 86 WC. The fixtures meeting gave us 3 straight away games, and our first home game wasn't until April 1989. A home win against Spain and 4 other wins in the remaining games sent us through to our first WC. Then in the finals draw in Rome, we were the last team drawn, and sent into the only group with 2 other European teams. The group went down to the wire, but Ireland and Holland couldn't be separated on the field, and a "lots" draw gave us 2nd place in the group sending us to Genoa to play Romania. Our campaign finished in Rome with a creditable performance against the hosts.
1994:
The qualifying draw in New York was probably one of the most memorable in recent years. One group only had 5 teams, when Yugoslavia were banned from competition. The pots were drawn from 6th seeds to 2nd seeds, when the top seeds were pre-allocated a group. As the groups formed up, England, Poland, and Turkey were paired in the same group, all of which we had just played in the Euro qualifiers. We didn't want them again, as Franz Beckenbauer prepared to draw our pot out. To gasps from the audience, Holland got the English group, while we were the next country drawn out, put into the unprecedented 7-team, 12-game group, with Spain and Denmark.
The Spanish FA had problems complying with the all-seater stadium requirements, while the FAI reluctantly installed the temporary seats, which reduced the Lansdowne capacity by 15,000. The qualifying campaign began in May 92, at home to Albania. 4 wins in a row set us up to qualify at home to Spain, where we collapsed in half an hour. On the final night of the campaign, we went to Belfast with no fans, needing to get a result. Despite ending level on goal difference and points with Denmark, our 1-1 draw coupled with a Danish loss in Spain sent us through to the finals, on more goals scored. The European Champions joined names such as England, France, and Portugal to sit out the finals at home. In the finals, we were given another rough 3 European team group, and everyone finished level on 4 points and goal difference. Mexico finished top on goals scored, we got second from beating Italy, while Norway went home. Our tournament ended in the next round.
1998:
We were still 2nd seeds for the 98 draw, Romania took top seeds, and walked the group, qualifying directly for the finals in August after we drew 0-0 against Lithuania. Romania won every game in the group, bar the last one against us. For the first time since 1965, we were in a WC play-off. Despite starting well at home to Belgium, we were lucky to go to the second leg still level. With 20 minutes to go it was still level, but Belgium then scored from a move where the ball was out of play during it, but no throw-in was given. It was 1981 all over again, so we stayed at home the following summer.
2002:
By now we were third seeds, and handed Holland and Portugal in the qualifiers. The new policy at the fixtures meeting was going away to the bigger teams asap, and they were the first two games. A win in Estonia at the end of the away campaign, put us 6 goals ahead of Portugal on goal diffeence. Portugal later put 6 goals past Cyprus that evening. The group was decided in Portugal's favour on goal difference. We got through a month later against Iran. The draw for the finals gave us a good chance of qualifying, however, we made it hard for ourselves with the Keane saga. A vital equaliser against Germany kept the group wide open for the final set of games, where we beat Cameroon to second spot. However, we went out of the tournament having not lost any of our 16 games.
2006:
For the 2006 qualifiers, we were re-acquainted with Switzerland, and paired with France and Israel. The fixtures meeting lasted 10 hours in Dublin, and we got almost everything we wanted, including the first and last game at home. By the time we played Switzerland, one goal would have given us a play-off. We were behind for only 20 minutes in the group, but Switzerland and France got to the finals, and we got Steve Staunton for the next campaign.
2010:
A professional coach took over for the last WC campaign, and we needed Trappattoni to deal with Italy and improving Bulgaria. Italy won the group by 5 points, and we were the last of the 8 play-off qualifiers, albeit with a game to spare. A deflection and a scandal stopped us going to South Africa, but at least we were competitive on the field again. The same group format and qualification criteria will apply for the 2014 qualifiers, but hopefully, with a good draw, we can at least make the finals next time.
