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 2019) commencing work on UEFA qualifiers Group 5, with the group's opening fixture between Norway and Scotland currently being reviewed. To receive updates on twitter, follow @1990qual (kaltz) and @1990worldcup (domizio).
NEWEST: Italy 1-0 Netherlands (friendly)
16 November 1988, Rome: Both teams had been in action four weeks earlier, and both had made quite a few changes since then to their starting line-ups. The Italians were without four of the starters from the win against Norway, as there was no Zenga, Donadoni, Berti and Mancini, whilst Netherlands boss Libregts had had to start the game without five of the players who had kicked off the game in Munich: van Tiggelen, Wouters, van Aerle, Bosman and the older Koeman brother Erwin. Now the two managers' selections had been made public, it remained to be seen whether they'd both continue along the 3-5-2 path which they'd opted on October 19. Tacconi, Rizzitelli, De Agostini and the debuting Baggio were the four men coming into the side for the hosts, while the Dutch had Koot, Reekers, Suvrijn, Eijkelkamp and Huistra replacing their absent five. Read more . . .
RECENT: Austria 3-0 East Germany
15 November 1989, Vienna: The hosts would not dally about; they'd immediately set their sights on the tall Dirk Heyne in the GDR goal. Well aware of the fact that a win was their only chance to progress, they were on song right from the word 'go'. A minute into the contest, Andreas Ogris, the Austria Vienna forward who had yet to score in the qualification, set up team captain Manfred Zsak for an effort on goal from 30 yards out. Not that the shot duly worried the stopper, as Zsak did not hit it particularly well, but the tone had been set. There was plenty of aggression and intensity about the hosts. 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 . . .