Updates and news
The aim of this website is to collect all knowledge and analyse every aspect of Italia'90. The site is a work in progress, with also published material being continuously revised. We will only begin publishing match reports from the 1990 World Cup tournament when all qualifiers have been covered. We are currently (January 2020) working on UEFA qualifiers Group 5 and also cautiously stepping across the Atlantic in order to have a closer look at the CONMEBOL section of the Italia '90 qualification.
Next up:
– Norway v Yugoslavia, June 1989 qualifier
To receive updates on twitter, please follow @1990qual (kaltz) and @1990worldcup (Domizio).
Austria 1-2 Czechoslovakia (friendly)
11 April 1989, Graz: Czechoslovakia are a big, physical team which rarely concedes a lot of opportunities against. This is a fine game for them to practice ahead of their very difficult upcoming trip to Brussels to play Belgium. Certainly one of the most interesting aspects about them on this occasion is seeing how the two 'returnees', defenders Ján Kocian and František Straka, will fare: Will they prove to further bolster an already decent defensive, or will they perhaps rather disrupt the organization which team manager Dr. Jozef Vengloš continues to emphasise in order to make Czechoslovakia a difficult team to beat? They are both starters, and they appear to be part of a five man defensive line. Read more...
France 0-0 Yugoslavia (UEFA Group 5)
29 April 1989, Paris: A four man midfield seemed the natural choice as Osim once again had both Stojković, Sušić, Baždarević and Katanec available. He had been employing a 5-3-2 lately, but always with one out of these four missing. With all four available, 5-4-1 only seemed the obvious choice. It did also make sense from a tactical point of view, as Platini is known for wanting to play through the middle, fielding a three man strong central midfield. This left Osim with one forward, Zoran Vujović. Dejan Savićević, who had enjoyed an international breakthrough in these qualifiers, was out injured, and was not considered for this game. Read more . . .
Previously: Czechoslovakia v Switzerland (1989 qualifier)
Previously: Wales v Netherlands (1989 qualifier)
From the news archives
One of the last qualifiers covered at italia1990.com is Iceland v Soviet Union (31 August 1988) from UEFA Group 3, provided by our writer kaltz. In addition, we give you the front page of the Icelandic newspaper Tíminn on 1 September 1988: Its headline was not so much the result of the game, as the naked person who entered the field. This is allegedly the first time this phenomenon was witnessed on a sporting venue on the island. Insular innocence stolen.
(Thanks to @WC1930blogger for notifying us.)
From the archives
Greece 1-4 Yugoslavia, 5 April 1989
Group 7 Quiz
Who was Belgium's regular libero in the 1990 qualifiers? And who's the player in the middle in the picture to the right? Test your UEFA qualification group 7 knowledge with our new group 7 quiz. Difficulty level: Difficult . . .