England's worst-ever start in a World Cup
qualifying campaign--a 1-0 home loss against Germany under manager Kevin Keegan and a scoreless away draw against
Finland under temporary manager Howard Wilkinson--left them in last place in the group, without a goal scored and on the
brink of losing any realistic chance of qualifying.
But two victories in the space of four days under new coach Sven-Göran Eriksson--2-1 against Finland at Anfield Road in Liverpool
on 24 March and 3-1 against Albania in Tiranë on 28 March--put them firmly into second place and
made them favourites for the playoff spot that accompanied a
second-place finish.
Because England trailed Germany by five points at the
preliminary competition's halfway point, finishing first and thus qualifying outright for the
World Cup 2002 final tournament seemed far beyond their reach barring some astonishing results in
the group's remaining fixtures. Yet Germany faltered in their next match, drawing
away to Finland, before recovering to beat Albania away. England beat Greece
in Athens on 6 June, and although they were six points behind Germany,
they had a match in hand.
Still, England remained highly unlikely to finish first in the
group as their 1 September match against Germany in Munich approached.
Germany had lost only one World Cup preliminary match in their history--at home
to Portugal in 1985--and then only after they already had gained
qualification. Moreover, England victories over Germany and Albania four
days later would only leave them level with Germany on points, and first place would come down to goal difference or, if the two teams
were still even by that measure, to number of goals scored. Germany
enjoyed a substantial edge in both goal difference (+8 to +4) and goals scored
(13 to 7). Assuming England victories in their last two matches, against
Albania and Greece at home, and a Germany victory in their last match, against
Finland at home, a first place finish for England required not only an
England victory against Germany in Germany, but also an England goal binge sufficient to overcome Germany's superior goal difference.
So confident were Germany of winning the group that they scheduled friendly
matches for November, when second-place UEFA group teams were scheduled
for qualification playoff matches.
England's astonishing 5-1 decimation of
Germany turned Germany's four-goal goal difference advantage into a four-goal
goal difference advantage for England and put England in control of their own
destiny in the group. Four days later, England's 2-0 win against Albania
at home put them level with Germany on points and thus into first place on goal
difference.
As England and Germany awaited their last group matches on 6
October, England had a goal difference advantage of six. The expected England
victory over Greece at home would almost certainly assure a first-place finish
for England and relegate Germany to an effort to qualify via the playoff route
even if they managed to beat Finland in Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen. But, bolstered by a
new German coach and the return of players who had boycotted the national side,
Greece outplayed a very poor England for most of the match, and only David
Beckham's splendid free-kick goal in the third minute of stoppage time saved
England from defeat.
The huge roar that greeted the England
captain's goal was almost eclipsed a minute later when the Old Trafford
announcer told the crowd that Finland had just held Germany to a scoreless
draw. England's 2-2 draw was enough; they had taken the group on goal
difference by way of two bolts of good fortune, the one Beckham's last-gasp goal
from a free-kick dubiously awarded by the Dutch referee and the other Germany's
failure to defeat a national side that had not taken a point in Germany since
1923. Yet England's first-place finish could not fairly be credited to luck. While the team still needed considerable improvement (and their
youth and inexperience in key positions meant it would come), Eriksson's
stewardship had turned England almost
completely around in nine months and put them in the position where a little bit
of luck, long overdue, was enough to put them top.
Germany had to cancel those friendlies they
had scheduled at playoff time. Instead they met the Ukraine in a home and
away playoff series and managed to qualify anyway. On the first of
those playoff dates, Saturday, 10 November, England met Eriksson's homeland, Sweden, in a friendly at
Old Trafford arranged in his honour. The visitors handed to
Eriksson an award made in his absence at ceremonies the previous Monday in
Stockholm--Sweden's Football Personality of the Year, an honour he won by coming
to England's rescue!
|
Teams Qualifying
for World Cup 2002 Final Tournament |
|
31 May 1996 |
| Japan |
Qualified as host. |
| Korea
Republic |
|
12 July 1998 |
| France |
Qualified as defending
champion. |
|
1 July 2001 |
| Cameroon |
Won CAF
preliminary competition groups. |
| South Africa |
|
15 July 2001 |
| Tunisia |
Won CAF
preliminary competition group. |
|
21 July 2001 |
| Senegal |
Won CAF
preliminary competition group. |
|
29 July 2001 |
| Nigeria |
Won CAF
preliminary competition group. |
|
15 August 2001 |
| Argentina |
Secured
top-four finish in CONMEBOL preliminary competition group. |
|
1 September 2001 |
| Poland |
Won UEFA preliminary competition group. |
|
5 September 2001 |
| Sweden |
Won UEFA preliminary competition
groups. |
| Spain |
| Costa Rica |
Secured
top-three finish in TFC (CONCACAF) preliminary competition
group. |
|
6 October 2001 |
| Croatia |
Won UEFA preliminary competition
groups. |
| Denmark |
| England |
| Italy |
| Portugal |
| Russia |
|
7 October 2001 |
| China |
Won AFC preliminary competition group. |
| U.S.A. |
Secured
top-three finish in TFC (CONCACAF) preliminary competition group. |
|
21 October 2001 |
| Saudi Arabia |
Won AFC
preliminary competition group. |
|
7 November 2001 |
| Ecuador |
Secured
top-four finish in CONMEBOL preliminary competition groups. |
| Paraguay |
|
11 November 2001 |
| Mexico |
Secured
top-three finish in TFC (CONCACAF) preliminary competition group. |
|
14 November 2001 |
| Belgium |
Won home
and away playoff between second-place UEFA teams against Czech
Republic. |
| Germany |
Won home
and away playoff between second-place UEFA teams against Ukraine. |
| Slovenia |
Won home
and away playoff between second-place UEFA teams against Romania. |
| Turkey |
Won home
and away playoff between second-place UEFA teams against Austria. |
| Brazil |
Secured
top-four finish in CONMEBOL preliminary competition group. |
|
15 November 2001 |
| Republic of Ireland |
Won home
and away playoff as second-place UEFA team against Iran as winner of
playoff between second-place AFC teams. |
|
7 November 2001 |
| Uruguay |
Won home
and away playoff between OFC winner and fifth-place CONMEBOL team. |
Background
FIFA's Executive Committee awarded the 2002 World Cup
final tournament to Japan and South Korea as co-hosts at a meeting in
Zurich, Switzerland on 31 May 1996.
FIFA divided the 50 European teams
seeking to qualify for the 2002 World Cup finals competition into nine groups at a preliminary draw held in Tokyo,
Japan on
7 December 1999.
Before the draw, FIFA used
UEFA's European national team
ranking table, based on coefficients calculated from the qualifying results for the 1998 World Cup and the 2000
European Championship (excluding the playoffs), to seed the teams into five tiers.
The UEFA ranking list was modified for purpose of the seeding to exclude
12th-ranked France, the 51st European nation in the competition, because
they automatically qualified for the 2002 World Cup finals as
reigning champion. Countries ranked below France in UEFA's ranking
table were thus seeded one spot higher than their ranking. Ranked
17th in
the UEFA list, England were seeded 16th and placed in the second tier
of teams, which meant they would have to face one of Europe's top-seeded teams in
qualifying play.
The draw assigned to Group 9 Albania,
seeded 41st, from the fifth
tier of teams, Finland, seeded 30th, from the fourth tier, Greece, seeded
24th, from the third,
England, seeded 16th, from the second, and, finally, Germany, seeded 7th, from the first.
While England might have wished to avoid their old rival Germany, their
assignment to a group comprised of five teams rather than six was good
fortune since they would play only eight group
qualifying matches rather than 10, thus alleviating the hardships that fixture
congestion causes players from the leading club sides.
The qualifying match schedule
was announced on 20 January 2000, following all-day negotiations between the
Group 9 teams. English media reaction was
largely critical of manager Kevin Keegan for submitting to a schedule that had
England playing both their matches against Germany in September, a month in
which it was claimed England traditionally play poorly.
Wembley Stadium was unavailable during most of England's 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign because it
was to
be demolished and a new stadium built on the same site.
Demolition was first postponed a few weeks so that England's first preliminary match,
against Germany on 7 October 2000, would be the last played at the old Wembley,
another episode in a great football rivalry thus according the stadium a
farewell commensurate with its stature in the game. Plans for construction
of a new national stadium went awry, however, demolition was postponed
indefinitely and Wembley remained standing throughout the qualifying
campaign. England still played the rest of their home matches
elsewhere; the old stadium had been stripped of its fittings and
commitments had been made to other venues.
Once again 32 teams
qualified for the World Cup final tournament. The two host nations,
South Korea and Japan, and reigning World Cup 1998 champions France
qualified automatically. The other 29 qualifying teams were
determined as follows:
Europe (UEFA)
The winners of the nine UEFA groups qualified directly for the
final tournament. The nine group runners-up were put in a
playoff draw. Eight were drawn into four European playoff
pairings, and the ninth was paired in a playoff with the third-place AFC
team. The winners of these five home and
away playoff series joined the UEFA group winners and defending
champion France in advancing to the finals.
Qualified: 15 teams - France as
host nation; Croatia, Denmark, England, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia,
Spain and Sweden as group winners; Belgium, Germany, Slovenia and Turkey
as winners of playoffs between the second-place UEFA teams; Republic of
Ireland as winner of the playoff between a second-place UEFA team
determined by draw and the third-place AFC team.
South America (CONMEBOL)
The top four teams in a single group
qualified directly for the final tournament. The fifth-place team
played a home and away playoff series against the Oceania Football
Confederation winner for another qualification spot.
Qualified: 5 teams - Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil and Paraguay as the top four teams
in the CONMEBOL group; Uruguay as winner of a home and away playoff series
between the fifth-place CONMEBOL team and the OFC winner, Australia.
North America (TFC
formerly known as CONCACAF)
The top three teams from the final
CONCACAF group qualified directly for the final tournament.
Qualified: 3 teams - Costa Rica,
U.S.A. and Mexico as the top three teams in the final TFC or CONCACAF
group.
Africa (CAF)
The winners of the five final CAF groups
qualified directly for the final tournament.
Qualified: 5 teams - Cameroon,
Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia as winners of the final CAF
groups.
Asia (AFC)
The winners of the two AFC final groups
qualified directly for the final tournament, joining host nations Japan
and South Korea. The second-place teams played a home and away
playoff series, and the winner of that played against one of the nine
second-place UEFA teams in another home and away playoff series with the
winner of that qualifying for the final tournament.
Qualified: 4 teams - Japan and
South Korea as host nations; China and Saudi Arabia as AFC final group
winners.
Oceania (OFC)
The winner of a home and away playoff
series between the first-place teams in the two OFC groups played a home and away
playoff series against the fifth-place CONMEBOL team with the winner of
that qualifying for the final tournament.
Qualified: 0 teams -
Australia, as OFC winner, lost the home and away playoff series between
the OFC winner and the fifth-place CONMEBOL team, Uruguay.
FIFA Regulations for the
Preliminary Competition
FIFA's regulations for the competition
provide that ranking in preliminary groups was determined by, in order:
a.) greater number of points obtained in all the group matches
(calaculated on the basis of three points for a win and one for a draw);
b.) goal difference in all the group matches;
c.) greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
d.) greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the
deadlocked teams;
e.) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the
deadlocked teams;
f.) greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the
deadlocked teams;
g.) a play-off on neutral ground.
Further Information
The results and tables for the entire
World Cup 2002 preliminary competition are available both on the
FIFA
website, which also has complete match summaries, and in the
Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistical
Foundation Archive.
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