For this interview, I look back at Wales’ 1982 World Cup qualification campaign.
The Interview will be as a video link companion, while the Blog
will be a presentation of the events.
The Interviewee is:
Welsh Football fan, Mr. Gareth Hughes
Mr. Hughes’ contact info:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gareth.hughes.37604
Twitter: @pontblyddyn
My contact information:
on twitter @sp1873 and on Facebook
under Soccernostalgia.
Blog Link:
Wales 1982 FIFA World Cup
Qualifiers
As Wales prepared to
participate in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, it had been more than two decades
since they had been present in the Finals of a major Tournament. To be precise,
not since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden and the days of John Charles.
Former Wales National Team
defender Mike England was appointed in March 1980 and his first major test were
these qualifiers.
Wales were to be in a group
with the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Iceland, and Turkey.
The Soviets and Czechoslovaks
were experienced campaigners with many Tournament participations in the
previous years and decades and were naturally favored to advance.
Mike England had the 1980
Home Championship to try out his final experiments before their first
qualifying match against Iceland in June 1980.
The Home Championships
started well but ended in disappointment. These included the epic (4-1) win
over England on May 17, 1980, followed by (0-1) losses to Scotland (May 21,
1980) and Northern Ireland (May 23, 1980, at Cardiff).
In the match against
Scotland, new Liverpool striker Ian Rush became the second youngest Welsh cap
at the age of 18 years and 214 days.
Wales had a backbone that
included goalkeeper Dai Davies, Captain and future National Team manager Terry
Yorath, Peter Nicholas, Joey Jones, Paul Price, David Giles, Ian Walsh, Brian
Flynn, Leighton James, Mickey Thomas, and Leighton Phillips, among others.
The 1982 World Cup qualifiers
started on June 2, 1980, with Iceland hosting the Welsh at Reykjavik. It would
be a comfortable (4-0) win for Wales with Ian Walsh scoring twice, along with
David Giles and a penalty kick by Flynn.
In the Autumn of 1980, Wales
played its second qualifier at home at Cardiff on October 15, 1980, against
Turkey. It would be another comfortable (4-0) win with Brian Flynn opening the
scoring, followed by a penalty kick by Leighton James, who would also score the
fourth goal and Ian Walsh.
Wales’s first major test was
against Czechoslovakia on November 19, 1980, at Cardiff.
David Giles’s ninth minute
goal was sufficient for Wales to register its third straight win and top the
group. At this point, they had a realistic hope of qualification.
In the new year 1981, Wales
continued its winning streak. They played a friendly on February 24, 1981, at
Dublin, and defeated Republic of Ireland (3-1).
On March 25, 1981, Wales
traveled to Ankara to face Turkey in their next qualifier. The Welsh earned
their fourth straight win with a (1-0) win with a Carl Harris strike,
The World Cup dream in Spain
seemed closer and closer.
Ahead of their next
qualifier, Wales participated in the 1981 Home Championship. On May 16, 1981,
at Swansea, they defeated Scotland (2-0). This was followed by a scoreless tie
against England at Wembley on May 20, 1981.
Welsh faced the toughest
opponent in the group, the Soviet Union at Wrexham on May 30, 1981. The match
ended in a scoreless tie and perhaps this was the first major setback in their
quest. A win would surely have qualified the Welsh.
They nevertheless seemed in a
good position with nine points and no goals conceded up to that point.
 |
Photo From: Mondial, new
series, issue 16, July 1981
|
(May 30, 1981, World Cup
Qualifier, Wales 0-USSR 0) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Official Match
Programme, England v Northern Ireland, 1984
|
(May 30, 1981, World Cup
Qualifier, Wales 0-USSR 0) |
 |
Photo From: World Soccer,
July 1981 (May 30, 1981, World Cup
Qualifier, Wales 0-USSR 0) |
It all started to fall apart
for the Welsh in the Autumn of 1981. On September 9, 1981, Wales traveled to
Prague and were defeated (0-2) by Czechoslovakia.
The Czechoslovaks were now a
point behind with one less match and the Soviets still had five more matches to
play.
.jpg) |
Photo From: Start 1981 №39,
Septembra 28, 1981
| (September 9, 1981, World Cup Qualifier, Czechoslovakia 2-Wales 0) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Start 1981 №39,
Septembra 28, 1981
| (September 9, 1981, World Cup Qualifier, Czechoslovakia 2-Wales 0) |
Wales missed their best
opportunity by failing to defeat Iceland at home, at Swansea, on October 14,
1981.
The match ended as a (2-2)
tie against an opponent they had soundly defeated over a year before at
Reykjavik.
This was a costly point
dropped and Czechoslovakia and the Soviets would make up the ground.
In fact, when it came to
Wales’s last match of the qualifiers, the Soviets had taken the leadership of
the group with two matches to spare, with Wales just behind.
On November 18, 1981, at
Tbilisi, the Soviets defeated the Welsh (3-0). At this point, Wales’s’ destiny
was out of their hands. There remained one more match in the group with
Czechoslovakia hosting the Soviets at Bratislava on November 29, 1981.
The Czechoslovaks had a
superior goal difference to Wales and a tie would be sufficient to edge ahead
of Wales on goal difference.
Czechoslovakia did just that
by getting a (1-1) tie and qualified for the World Cup ahead of Wales.
Wales had come so close but
were eliminated by two quality sides like USSR and Czechoslovakia.
There was much regret for not
winning at home against Iceland and this ultimately doomed them.
They could look forward to
future Tournaments, however, they did not build up on these relatively
successful qualifiers and stagnated for the coming decades.
Wales players during the
qualification matches
William David ‘Dai’ Davies (Wrexham Football Club /
Wales, registered in English League) and from 1981/82, (Swansea City Football
Club / Wales, registered in English League) (April 1, 1948, Glanaman,
Wales-February 10, 2021) (8 Matches)
Defenders:
Joseph Patrick
Jones (Wrexham Football Club / Wales, registered in English League) (March 4,
1955, Llandudno, Wales) (7 Matches, substituted in 1 match)
Paul Terence
Price (Luton Town Football Club / England), from 1981/82, (Tottenham Hotspur Football
Club-London / England) (March 23, 1954, St Albans, Hertfordshire, England) (6
Matches)
Peter Nicholas
(Crystal Palace Football Club-London / England) from 1981, (Arsenal Football
Club-London / England) (November 10, 1959, Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales) (8
Matches)
Leighton Phillips
(Swansea City Football Club / Wales, registered in English League) from
1981/82, (Charlton Athletic Football Club-London / England) (September 25, 1949,
Neath, Wales) (7 Matches, substituted in 1 match)
Kevin Ratcliffe
(Everton Football Club-Liverpool / England) (November 12, 1960, Mancot, Wales) (6
Matches)
Midfielders:
Brian Flynn
(Leeds United Association Football Club / England) (October 12, 1955, Port
Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales) (7 Matches)
Leighton James
(Swansea City Football Club / Wales, registered in English League) (February
16, 1953, Loughor, Swansea, Wales) (6 Matches)
Terence Charles
Yorath (Tottenham Hotspur Football Club-London / England) from 1981, (Vancouver
Whitecaps / Canada) (March 27, 1950, Grangetown, Cardiff, Wales)
(5 Matches, substituted in 1 match)
William Byron Stevenson (Leeds United
Association Football Club / England) (September 7, 1956, Llanelli, Wales-September
6, 2007) (2 Matches and came on as substitute in 1
match)
David Charles
Giles (Swansea City Football Club / Wales, registered in English League) (September
21, 1956, Cardiff, Wales) (5 Matches, substituted in 2 matches
and came on as substitute in 2 matches)
Carl Stephen
Harris (Leeds United Association Football Club / England) (November 3, 1956, Neath,
Wales) (7 Matches, substituted in 3 matches and
came on as substitute in 2 matches)
John Francis Mahoney (Swansea City
Football Club / Wales, registered in English League) (September 20, 1946, Cardiff,
Wales) (2 Matches, substituted in 1 match)
Strikers:
Michael Reginald
‘Mickey’ Thomas (Manchester United Football Club / England), September 1981, (Everton
Football Club-Liverpool / England) and November 1981, (Brighton Hove and Albion
Football Club / England) (July 7, 1954, Loughor, Mochdre, Wales) (4
Matches, substituted in 1 match and came on as substitute in 1 match)
Robert Mark James
(Swansea City Football Club / Wales, registered in English League) (March 23,
1957, Swansea, Wales-February 18, 1998, Llanelli, Wales) (2
Matches and came on as substitute in 1 match)
Ian Patrick Walsh
(Crystal Palace Football Club-London / England) (September 4, 1958, St David's,
Wales) (7 Matches, substituted in 2 matches and
came on as substitute in 1 match)
Gordon John Davies (Fulham Football
Club-London / England) (August 3, 1955, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales) (1
Match and he was substituted in it)
Jeremy Melvyn
Charles (Swansea City Football Club / Wales, registered in English League) (September
26, 1959, Swansea, Wales) (4 Matches and came on as substitute in
2 matches)
Alan Thomas Curtis (Swansea City Football
Club / Wales, registered in English League) (April 16, 1954, Pentre, Rhondda,
Wales) (3 Matches)
Ian James Rush
(Liverpool Football Club / England) (October 20, 1961, St Asaph, Wales) (2
Matches and came on as substitute in 1 match)
Stephen John Lovell (Crystal Palace
Football Club-London / England) (July 16, 1960, Swansea, Wales) (1
Matches and he came on as substitute in that match)
Coach: Harold Michael England (December 2, 1941, Holywell,
Flintshire, Wales)
 |
Photos From:Panini England 1977/78 (Joey Jones, Leighton Phillips)Panini England 1980/81 (Curtis, Harris, Yorath)Panini England 1981/82 (Flynn, Giles, Charles, Leighton James, Mahoney, Price, Ratcliffe, Robbie James, Stevenson, Mickey Thomas, Nicholas)Panini England 1983/84 (Rush)Panini England 1986/87 (Gordon Davies)FKS 74-75 (Mike England)FKS 75-76 (Dai Davies)FKS 80-81 (Ian Walsh)
Missing (Stephen
John Lovell) |
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