1989: Poland v England

It is often stated that the line between success and failure is thin. On October 11, 1989, English football fans would witness a prime sporting example of this. The national football team may have qualified for the 1990 World Cup after a 0-0 draw in Chorzow, Poland. But it could have all been oh so different. As the clock ticked towards the 90-minute mark and Rysard Tarasiewicz pulled back his right foot, that line between success and failure was wafer thin.

England manager Bobby Robson really didn't need one final scare. After the disastrous showing at Euro 88, the pressure placed on Robson's shoulders may even have left Titan Atlas needing a rest. "A contributing factor was that the circulation war between the Sun and the Daily Mirror was turning medieval," Robson wrote in Farewell, But Not Goodbye. "The office of England manager was one of their battlegrounds."

Two Daily Mirror headlines painted a very clear picture of the strain placed on Robson. After a 0-0 draw against Sweden in the opening match of the 1990 World Cup qualifying programme, "GO! IN THE NAME OF GOD GO!" appeared on the back page, and to continue the theme "GO! IN THE NAME OF ALLAH GO!" was displayed as England struggled to a 1-1 draw in Saudi Arabia. With allegations about Robson's private life also filling column inches, the England boss started to wonder if resigning would be the easiest way out.

Qualifying for Italia 90 out of a group containing Sweden, Poland and Albania was never going to be straight forward. With only the group winner guaranteed qualification, an improving Sweden and a dangerous Poland would provide stern opposition, with the group runners-up aiming to fill one of the two best second-placed teams from the three groups containing four teams. There was very little room for error.

England's strong defensive unit would provide the foundations for the campaign. With the reassuring presence of Terry Butcher returning to the team after missing Euro 88, Gary Stevens, Stuart Pearce, and Des Walker (replacing Tony Adams after the opening qualifying match) formed the back four that saw England achieve qualification without conceding a goal. Behind them Peter Shilton remained. It would take a fine performance from the 40-year-old goalkeeper to get England over the line in Chorzow. But Tarasiewicz almost ruined everything.

The battle for top position and one of the best second-placed spots was always likely to go down to the wire. The 0-0 draw against the Swedes at Wembley was followed by a 2-0 win over Albania in Tirana and a 5-0 thrashing in the return match, and a 3-0 win over Poland at Wembley left England in a strong position. A battling goalless draw in Sweden, including Butcher famously shedding blood for the cause, edged England closer. But there was still potential for trouble ahead.

Arriving in Poland requiring a point to qualify, memories of the failure against the same country in 1973 still hung in the air. A loss would leave England vulnerable; the combination of a Sweden win two weeks later in Poland, and the right set of results for Denmark in Group 1 would see England miss out on Italia 90. As the match progressed in Poland, there was every chance that England would fall at the final hurdle, surely bringing an ignominious end to the Robson era.

The Polish side were unrecognisable from the team that England had defeated four months earlier. Under new manager Andrzej Strejlau, only three players that started at Wembley took to the pitch in Chorzow. Poland still retained an outside chance of qualifying from the group, and immediately tore into England. Doubling up on England's full backs and dominating Bryan Robson and Steve McMahon in midfield, the first half was one way traffic.

Shilton would be a busy man in the first half. A comfortable save from Celtic's Jacki Dziekanowski kicked off proceedings before a fine fingertip save from Robert Warzycha kept England level. Dziekanowski should have done better with a header, and then Shilton kept out a long-range effort from Piotr Czachowski and then turned away a curling effort from the same player as Poland continued to dominate.

 

"Shilts always complains that his worst night is when he has nothing to do," skipper Bryan Robson later joked. "We thought we'd give him some work this time." The England manager showed his gratitude in his comments relating to his veteran keeper. "Wasn't Peter Shilton incredible? They threw everything at Peter but his positional sense was once again superb. He made vital save after save. That is the art of great goalkeeping."

The "PETER THE GREAT" headline in the Mirror was a theme running through most of the papers the following morning. "Shilton ensures qualified success" declared the Guardian. "Phew, we're in" was the rather relieved take in the Express. All of the reports pointed to the fact that England were indebted to Shilton, and the fact that the performance in Poland hardly suggested that England were going to do anything of note in Italy.

Yet the tone of the newspaper pieces the next day could have been so different. Shilton was beaten once, in the very last minute, as a thumping strike from Tarasiewicz thundered against the crossbar. With Barry Davies and Trevor Brooking discussing plans for Shilton's and England's World Cup in Italy, Tarasiewicz picked up the ball approximately 30-yards from goal before unleashing a rocket. As the television cameras struggled to keep apace with the effort, English viewers watching on the BBC looked on in fear.

"But it's not all over yet here," Davies noted just before Tarasiewicz let fly. It very nearly was all over. Shortly after, the final whistle sounded and England had made it to Italia 90. "No problem, the ball moved around in the air, I knew it was never going to go in," Shilton said, although it was difficult to confirm whether his tongue was firmly placed in his cheek or not. But there were plenty of English cheeks that tightened in the 90th minute of that final qualification match.

It's all irrelevant of course, but had that shot been slightly lower, and the Denmark and Sweden results followed as they did, then England would not have made it to Italy. As Rob Smyth noted in this Joy of Six: footballing what-ifs, the implications for this moment are far reaching. I have no doubt that the footballing world would have limped on without England's presence at Italia 90, yet Tarasiewicz's shot does provide a sliding door moment.

A lot of the points raised in the Joy of Six article are spot on; football almost became cool as a team led by a much-maligned manager progressed to the last four of the World Cup. Did this speed up the introduction of the Premier League? Without England at the finals, would those of us old enough to remember listen back to Nessun Dorma with such happy memories, would Pete Davies had penned his excellent All Played Out book looking back at the tournament, and would World in Motion ever have seen the light of day.

No Gazza's tears; David Platt's career may have taken a very different path; Gary Lineker would not have to deal with every other tweet coming his way referring to his bowel accident during the Ireland match; and penalty shootout heartache would have been delayed at least. So many good and bad things that came out of that tournament for English football could have been erased had Rysard Tarasiewicz fired his shot a tad lower.

Yes, I know, if my aunt had balls etc, etc. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that England were that close to not reaching Italia 90. For Robson, the failure to qualify for the 1990 World Cup would have seen his time as England manager viewed by many as a failure. The escape in Poland, and England's subsequent achievements allowed a very likeable man to leave on a high. It's a frightening prospect to think of the abuse he would have received had Tarasiewicz scored.

"It is a special moment, and I could reflect it is doubly delicious after what I have taken," an angry Robson declared on his return to England after the Poland match. "You attacked me, vilified me, and now that I have come through to prove people wrong you ask me how I feel," he added on speaking to the press. Redemption for Robson achieved by the barest of all margins. The line between success and failure had never been finer.