Alternative Football History Part VI – Wales qualify for USA ’94!
It’s 17th November 1993 at the old Cardiff Arms Park and Wales needed to beat Romania to qualify for the World Cup in America the following year.
The Welsh hadn’t qualified for the World Cup since 1958 and had missed the last 8 World Cups. The current side however had some players such as the young Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Gary Speed, Mark Hughes and Neville Southall.
Giggs was an exciting young player who had won the Premier League title the season before and Ian Rush was one of the most prolific strikers of the 1980’s and was approaching the goalscoring record at Liverpool. He had become the top goalscorer in Welsh footballing history earlier on in the year.
Gary Speed and Mark Hughes had also recently won the league championship with Leeds and Manchester United respectively. Southall was one of the goalkeepers of his generation so Wales had a lot of great players who had yet to grace the world stage.
Romania had one of the most exciting players in Gheorghe Hagi and were level on points with the Welsh in the qualifying group. They went into the game as favourites despite being away from home as they had thumped Wales 5-1 in Bucharest earlier in the qualifying stages.
The crowd was loud and passionate at the old stadium, the sort of noise only heard at Rugby Union games.
Romania scored first through Hagi before Dean Saunders equalised for the Welsh. With the score at 1-1, Wales were awarded a penalty with an hour on the clock.
Swindon’s regular penalty taker Paul Bodin picked the ball to take the spot kick. He hit the ball hard and straight down the middle of the goal but it cannoned off the bar and away from danger.
Romania added a second on the break. Wales then had X to scored twice and try as they might, they were unable to break the Romanian defence down. Romania ended up 2-1 winners and it was they who qualified for the USA ’94 World Cup.
But what if Paul Bodin had scored that penalty? What could have happened next? This is a question that a whole generation of Welsh football fans have wondered. Let’s go back in time to that night in Cardiff and take up the story:
Paul Bodin stepped up to take the penalty and hit the ball hard and down the middle of the goal. The ball hit the underside of the bar and bounced over the line and Wales were in the lead!
In the 85th minute with Romania piling forward to try and get an equaliser, they lost possession and suddenly Ryan Giggs was put through on goal after a through ball by Gary Speed.
As the Romanian goalkeeper Florin Prunea dived at his feet at the edge of the area, Giggs scooped the ball over Prunea and into the net.
Wales had made it to USA ’94 but England had not. They finished third in their group behind Holland and Poland and manager Graham Taylor had been relieved of his duties.
And so it was Terry Yorath’s Wales who would fly the British flag along with the Republic of Ireland in the World Cup.
Ryan Giggs was the main face of the squad. The 18 year old had just won the League and Cup Double with Manchester United and was the wonderkid of the United team. He played a prominent role in the team and was judged by many as one of the players to watch in the tournament.
Wales played a couple of friendlies before flying over to the States. They played Germany and lost 3-1 in Munich despite Ian Rush giving the Welsh a surprise lead.
The Welsh FA decided to find a South American side to play against as they had Colombia in their group. The theory was that Wales could see how South American sides played and could learn how to adjust their game accordingly. The Uruguayan FA accepted an invitation to play in a one-off friendly.
23,842 fans attended the game and Wales won 2-0 with Dean Saunders grabbing both goals but Paul Bodin was sent off after handballing on the line.
Wales arrived at their training base in Pasadena full of confidence. Terry Yorath (the Wales Manager) reported that there was an excitement in the camp when he was interviewed by John Motson prior to the start of the tournament.
“There is no feeling of any pressure at all. Although the country hasn’t qualified for a major tournament for many years, the feeling within the camp is relaxed and excited. We can’t wait to start the tournament”.
Colombia were the first opponents and the game was on 19th June at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. This was where all three of Wales’s group games were to be played.
The Colombians were out to do better than they had in the previous World Cup in Italy where they went out in the Second Round.
Wales had no injury problems to worry about and went into the game full of confidence.
Dean Saunders opened the scoring in the game on 16 minutes with a header from a Ryan Giggs corner before adding a second from 20 yards in the 34th minute.
Colombia struck back just before half time with a goal from Adolfo Valencia in the 43rd minute but Ian Rush completed a famous Welsh win in the 89th minute from close range.
Switzerland were next for Wales and the match three days after the victory over Colombia was a real wake-up call.
With Welsh confidence at an all-time high, Switzerland were quick to knock them down a few pegs with a resounding 4-1 victory.
Alain Sutter scored the opening goal of the game for the Swiss and Gary Speed equalised for Wales on 35 minutes to make the scores level at half-time.
Chris Coleman carelessly gave possession away inside the Welsh penalty area in the 52nd minute. Stephane Chapuisat hit the ball hard a low past Neville Southall to give Switzerland the lead for the second time in the game.
Adrian Knup made the scoreline perhaps a little more flattering than Switzerland deserved with two goals in the 66th and 72nd minute. Wales now needed to beat the hosts USA to qualify for the knockout stages.
The game against USA was on the 27th June and in the last training session before the game, Ryan Giggs pulled his right hamstring and would take no further part in the tournament. This was bitterly disappointing news for all involved in the Welsh camp as the young 18 year old was starting to show some of the quality that he had displayed during the previous season at Manchester United.
Paul Bodin won the game for Wales in the 17th minute and the game itself was utterly forgettable. Both sides qualified for the next round, Brazil would be America’s opponents and Wales would be up against Argentina, the runners up of the previous World Cup.
The game against Argentina was to be played in the all-too-familiar surroundings of the Rose Bowl, Wales’s new home.
Sadly for the underdogs, they were never given a chance by a rampant Argentina side, desperate to go one better than four years before. Argentina won the game 5-0 and it could so easily have been double figures had Neville Southall not had the game of his life.
Gabriel Batistuta scored a first half hat-trick, Diego Simeone added a fourth just before the hour and Ariel Ortega scored the fifth on 76 minutes.
Wales were not just resoundingly beaten but taught a real footballing lesson. After the game, Terry Yorath was interviewed by Gabriel Clarke from ITV and he was in a reflective mood:
“We were out-classed all over the field today. We weren’t even that bad, it was just that the Argentinians were much better. None of our players could get near them and when one of our lads ever did get the ball, he’d have it whipped away from him in a millisecond!
Big Nev (Neville Southall) was incredible today, he made at least four world-class saves and he stopped the game from ending in a cricket score. It’s never nice losing a match but we can hold our heads high. We lost to a class team today and I won’t be surprised if they win the bloody thing!”
Of course, we all know that Wales never did reach the World Cup in 1994 and Argentina went out to Romania in the Second Round in the States. Sometimes it’s nice to think “what if?” though, isn’t it?
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