The Three Heartbreaking Times England Missed The World Cup
With the World Cup in full swing, England once again dons the famous white and navy kit with the Three Lions sewn on, watching in anticipation.
Of course, everyone seems to know the score; England expects, but all too often, they get close but not quite close enough to win. Will 2026 be different? It remains to be seen.
However, no matter what, England always qualify and tend to make the Knockout stage, which is far better than it used to be.
On no less than three separate occasions, England have failed to qualify despite their best efforts, and each story has its own shocking twists to it.
Why Did England Fail To Qualify In 1974?
At Alf Ramsey’s third and final World Cup campaign, following victory at Wembley and a rather unfortunate rematch in 1970, Alf Ramsey ended up in a group featuring the Olympic champions, Poland, who ultimately qualified instead of them and Wales.
Following a shock draw against the Dragons and a less surprising 2-0 defeat against the Eagles, the Three Lions needed to beat Poland to stay in the running, whilst Poland only had to scrape a draw, which is exactly what they did thanks to the magic of goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski.
Why Did England Fail To Qualify In 1978?
Alf Ramsey was replaced by Don Revie, the legendary Leeds United manager, but it was a match made in hell, as Mr Revie struggled to apply his family mentality to the national team and ultimately left to become Saudi Arabia manager in a cloud of controversy.
Ron Greenwood tried his best, but ultimately England missed out on the narrowest of margins.
Why Did England Fail To Qualify In 1994?
The subject of the infamous film An Impossible Job and inspiration for Mike Basset: England Manager, Graham Taylor’s cursed qualification campaign was mortally wounded by losses to Norway and the Netherlands under controversial circumstances.
The nadir of this run was conceding a goal to infamous minnows San Marino, and whilst they would ultimately win 7-1, they still failed to qualify.