Alternative Football History Part IV – England qualify for the 1974 World Cup
Needing a win against the Poles in order to qualify at Wembley, it was almost seen as a formality that England would get the win needed and qualify for the World Cup in West Germany the following year. England had reached every World Cup that they tried to qualify for but didn’t enter the first three tournaments which took place in 1930, 1934 and 1938.
Poland had won 2-0 in the first game between the two teams four months previously in Chorzow and England were out for revenge.
The game was shown live on the telly that night and the outspoken Derby County manager Brian Clough joined Brian Moore in the studio to give his expert views and analysis.
England started well in the early exchanges and had a couple of efforts at goal but were thwarted by the Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomazewski and his defence. Tomaszewski picked up a nasty injury in the first few minutes, dislocating one of his fingers and was clearly in a lot of pain. The Polish physio came on and tried to help him out and after a brief inspection of the injury, the game carried on.
More and more opportunities were spurned by the home side, [], [] and [] going close but time and again Tomaszewski got his body in the way, frustrating the England players and the vast majority of the 100,000 fans in the crowd that night.
The game remained scoreless until half time and the TV coverage went back to the studio to get the opinions and analysis of the pundits. It was during the analysis of the first half that Brian Clough then famously referred to Tomaszewski as a clown and Brian Moore quickly leapt to the Poles defence.
Clough – “…that other clown at the other end…”
Moore – “Brian, you keep calling him a clown but in fact that fellow has made some fantastic saves…”
In the second half, Tomaszewski had the game of his life, batting away chance after chance. It was almost as if word had got down to the goalkeeper that Clough had called him a clown in the Polish dressing room as he sat nursing his finger at half time!
Things were about to take a turn for the worst for England as in the 57th minute, Poland broke away on the counter attack and took the lead. Poland’s Jan Domarkski ran in unmarked and he hit a low first-time shot at goal as he arrived at the edge of the England penalty area.
Peter Shilton dived down to stop the shot but dived a bit late and the ball went under him and hit the back of the net. The few Poland fans that were in the Wembley crowd celebrated but the vast majority of the ground was sent into a shocked silence. England now needed two goals in order to qualify.
Domarski’s goal started an onslaught on the Polish goal. England were given a great chance to get a much-needed equaliser only five minutes after going behind.
Leeds United’s Allan Clarke made no mistake from the spot, hitting his penalty hard to Tomaszewski’s left to level the score. There was no time to celebrate and the England players raced back to their half so that the game could restart as soon as possible.
In the 27 minutes that followed, England still had many chances but they couldn’t find the winner that they so desperately needed.
In the last minute of the match England won a corner. Mick Channon lofted in high into the box and Norman Hunter managed to get to it first, sending the England fans into ecstasy. Many of the England players and fans at the game that night said that they had never heard a goal celebrated so loudly at Wembley before, and that included games at the 1966 World Cup.
The referee blew the final whistle seconds after the ball hit the back of the net. Some of the Polish players dropped to their knees and others stood staring blankly into space, utterly deflated by the goal. Jan Tomaszewski lay on his back, completely exhausted and exasperated that all of his efforts were in vain.
Sir Alf Ramsey had such a huge selection of gifted players at his disposal for the tournament in West Germany. Mavericks such as Charlie George, Rodney Marsh and Stan Bowles were all selected by Ramsey to give them the opportunity to showcase their skills on the world stage. Gerry Francis, Alan Ball and Kevin Keegan also made the cut and England expected great things from the exciting-looking team.
England were drawn in Group 4 with Argentina, Italy and Haiti, who had qualified for their first World Cup Finals.
They made a dream start to the tournament, Malcolm MacDonald netted twice in the first ten minutes against Argentina. Alan Ball added a third just before half-time and England lead 3-0 at the break.
Argentina fought back in the second half and two quick goals from Rene Houseman in the 65th and 68th minute lead to a tense final 20 minutes. England hung on for a well-deserved win.
Malcolm MacDonald scored four in the second game against Haiti and Gerry Francis grabbed a hat-trick. In a moment of real embarrassment, the two of them fought over the match ball at the full-time whistle, both of them wanting to keep it as a reward for scoring a hat-trick. In the end, MacDonald won the tussle but a ballboy came over and gave Francis a ball.
Sir Alf Ramsey was furious and took the unprecedented decision to send both players back to England as punishment. The Football Association were quick to back Ramsey’s decision despite the media back in England calling for the two to be reinstated to the squad.
England made hard work of their next game against Italy but still managed to get a 2-1 win with goals from Allan Clarke and Norman Hunter and qualification for the Second Round was confirmed.
The 1974 World Cup was a different set up with the second round made up of two groups of four with the top team in each group progressing to the Final.
Sweden were England’s first opponents and Allan Clarke scored the winner with 20 minutes to go. Yugoslavia were next and goals from Norman Hunter and Mike Summerbee gave England a 2-1 win, leaving the last game in the group against West Germany as a straight knockout for a place in the Final.
This was the third successive World Cup where England and West Germany played each other and with a loud home support, the West Germans had a strong advantage going into the game. Gerd Muller scored the all-important goal for the hosts on 64 minutes and England were out.
England still had the Third Play Play Off against Brazil and put on a good display. They won 1-0 with a goal from Colin Bell but it was a real anti-climax to the tournament. Immediately after the tournament, Sir Alf Ramsey announced that he was stepping down as England manager and Leeds’ Don Revie took his place.
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