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 (July 2018) focusing on the UEFA group 3 qualifiers, which will remain our priority for a while yet. To receive updates on twitter, follow @1990qual and @1990worldcup
NEW: Soviet Union 3-0 East Germany
26 April 1989, Kiev: Fair to say that East Germany's line-up was less predictable than their opponents'. No less than seven (7) changes in Manfred Zapf's side from the team that disappointingly had lost 2-0 to Turkey in Magdeburg just two weeks earlier, as only defenders Trautmann and Hauptmann as well as Sammer and Thom were retained from that team. The reason for this was an injury crisis that suddenly had struck the DDR team, as Zapf had to manage without the services of several tried and tested men: Schößler, Stahmann and Kreer had already missed the previous match with injuries, and they were now joined by Minge, Pilz, Müller, Rohde, Stübner and Lindner. Read more . . .
NEW: Turkey 0-1 Soviet Union
Uğur shakes the hand of Aleinikov after committing a foul. Rıdvan and referee Vautrot look on
10 May 1989, Istanbul: Commonplace in a match of this magnitude, or any important World Cup qualifier indeed, is that the two teams start the game gently trying to understand what the opposition is about. This game was no different. Turkey had been playing some attractive football hitherto in Group 3, whereas the Soviet Union had perhaps been more efficient than spectacular, with the first half in the recent home win against East Germany a fine exception. This was only their second away match, and for their first, in Iceland, they had lined up in their customary 4-4-2. What had Lobanovsky, who incidentally had not been well enough to be in charge for that match in Reykjavik, having handed over the reign temporarily to his first assistant Yuri Morozov, got in store for this tricky fixture in hostile surroundings? 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 . . .