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England in World Cup 1990
Final Tournament

 

World Cup 1990 Final Tournament
8 June - 8 July in Italy

First Phase Group F Table
Team P W D L F A GD Pts
England 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 4
Republic of Ireland 3 0 3 0 2 2 =0 3
Netherlands 3 0 3 0 2 2 =0 3
Egypt 3 0 2 1 1 2 -1 2

The Republic of Ireland were awarded second place over Netherlands by lot; both teams advanced.

First Phase Group D Matches
Date Match Score H.T. Venue Attendance
11-Jun-1990 England 1 Republic of Ireland 1 [1-0] Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari 35,238
12-Jun-1990 Netherlands 1 Egypt 1 [0-0] Stadio Della Favorita, Palermo 33,421
16-Jun-1990 England 0 Netherlands 0 [0-0] Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari 35,267
17-Jun-1990 Republic of Ireland 0 Egypt 0 [0-0] Stadio Della Favorita, Palermo 33,288
21-Jun-1990 England 1 Egypt 0 [0-0] Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari 34,959
21-Jun-1990 Republic of Ireland 1 Netherlands 1 [0-1] Stadio Della Favorita, Palermo 33,288

Notes

The 24 qualifying teams were divided into six first round groups of four at the final draw in Rome on December 9, 1989.  Before the draw, FIFA seeded six teams to head the preliminary phase groups at the final tournament.  The seeded teams were Italy as hosts, Argentina as 1986 winners, West Germany as beaten finalists, Belgium as beaten semi-finalists, Brazil as losing quarter-finalist and England as losing quarter-finalist.  

Spain had a stronger claim to seeding than England because although both had reached the same stage of the competition in World Cups 1986 and 1982, Spain, unlike England, had qualified for the final tournament in 1978 and had finished top of its qualifying group for the 1990 finals.  But FIFA was determined that the hooligan element that followed the England team would be isolated and contained.  The only way to ensure that was to make England one of the seeds and assign it to Group F, the group whose matches would be played on two islands, Sardinia and Sicily.  

Joining England in Group F were Netherlands from the teams seeded second, Ireland from those seeded third and Egypt from those seeded fourth.  England would play all their group matches in Cagliari on Sardinia, the other three teams in the group would play matches between themselves in Palermo on the neighbouring island of Sicily. 

England deserved to win first place in their preliminary phase group, which produced seven goals and several stupefying matches, but only barely.  They played a listless draw with Ireland, switched to a sweeper system and generally outplayed Netherlands in a goalless draw, and then managed to crack, just once, the massed Egyptian defence in the final group match.  Certainly they gave no hint of what was to come.

Second Phase Matches
Round of 16 Matches
Date Match Score H.T. Venue Attendance
23-Jun-1990 Cameroon 2 Colombia 1 [0-0] Stadio San Paolo Naples 50,026

0-0 full-time, 0-0 after first period of extra-time, 2-1 after extra time.
23-Jun-1990 Czechoslovakia 4 Costa Rica 1 [1-0] Stadio San Nicola, Bari 47,673
24-Jun-1990 Brazil 0 Argentina 1 [0-0] Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin 61,381
24-Jun-1990 West Germany 2 Netherlands 1 [0-0] Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan 74,559
25-Jun-1990 Republic of Ireland 0 Romania 0 [0-0] Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa 31,818

0-0 after extra time, 5-4 penalty kicks
25-Jun-1990 Italy 2 Uruguay 0 [0-0] Stadio Olimpico, Rome 73,303
26-Jun-1990 Spain 1 Yugoslavia 2 [0-0] Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, Verona 35,500
26-Jun-1990 England 1 Belgium 0 [0-0] Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna 34,520

0-0 full-time, 0-0 after first period of extra time, 1-0 after extra time

Quarterfinal Matches
Date Match Score H.T. Venue Attendance
30-Jun-1990 Argentina 0 Yugoslavia 0 [0-0] Stadio Communale, Florence 38,971

0-0 after extra time, 3-2 penalty kicks
30-Jun-1990 Republic of Ireland 0 Italy 1 [0-1] Stadio Olimpico, Rome 73,303
01-Jul-1990 Czechoslovakia 0 West Germany 1 [0-1] Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan 73,347
01-Jul-1990 Cameroon 2 England 3 [0-1] Stadio San Paolo, Naples 55,205

2-2 full-time, 2-3 after first period of extra time, 2-3 after extra time

Semifinal Matches
Date Match Score H.T. Venue Attendance
03-Jul-1990 Argentina 1 Italy 1 [0-1] Stadio San Paolo, Naples 59,978

1-1 full-time, 1-1 after extra time, 4-3 penalty kicks
04-Jul-1990 West Germany 1 England 1 [0-0] Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin 62,628

1-1 full-time, 1-1 after extra time, 4-3 penalty kicks

Third Place Match
Date Match Score H.T. Venue Attendance
07-Jul-1990 Italy 2 England 1 [0-0] Stadio San Nicola, Bari 51,426
Final Match
Date Match Score H.T. Venue Attendance
08-Jul-1990 Argentina 0 West Germany 1 [0-0] Stadio Olimpico, Rome 73,603

Notes

Surprising even their most enthusiastic supporters, England reached the semi-finals for only the second time in their best World Cup showing outside their triumph at friendly Wembley Stadium in 1966.  Indeed, England's performance after the group stage was one of the few highlights as the standard of World Cup finals football sank to new depths with most of the teams bent on negative and defensive play calculated to avoid a loss rather than to win.  

While England played much better than expected, they had a great deal of good fortune along the way, and it is fair to say determination and opportunism, more than anything else, took them to the brink of the final match.  Only last-gasp efforts got them by Belgium and Cameroon in round-of-16 and quarterfinal matches which saw them largely outplayed.  Belgium hit the woodwork twice and made many more chances, although a John Barnes goal was disallowed on a plainly mistaken offside call.  David Platt's extraordinary swivelled volley from a Paul Gascoigne free kick in the last minute of extra time sent England through to the quarterfinals.  Cameroon shocked England and had them on the run, and only the African team's clumsy and naive defending prevented an upset.  Gary Lineker's penalty kick only seven minutes from the end of regulation time saved England from elimination, and his second penalty kick during extra-time put them in the semifinals. 

England saved their best for their old rivals, West Germany, and did well to take the semifinal to penalty kicks in their third successive extra-time match.  West Germany's regulation-time goal--a crazy looping hop over stranded goalkeeper Peter Shilton after Andreas Brehme's shot from a free kick tap-on struck advancing defender Paul Parker--was lucky, while Linkeker's equalizer 10 minutes from the end of regulation time was well-taken.  Both teams hit the woodwork in extra time.  Yet on the whole, the Germans enjoyed the greater part of the play, and the stronger team advanced to the final.

Still suffering from their cruel semi-final exits on penalty kicks, both England and Italy treated the third-place match rather casually, perhaps because it could furnish no consolation at all.  Although Italy deserved their 2-1 victory, England deserved the warm welcome they got on reaching home, their stock considerably higher than on their departure a month earlier.

Further Information

The results, tables and match summaries for the entire 1990 final tournament are available both on the FIFA website and in the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistical Foundation Archive.