Top Ten Worst England Qualifiers

[notsosilentbob]

Malta 0 England 1. 1971
England's first qualifying match against minnow opposition ended in an unconvincing 1-0 victory courtesy of a second half Martin Peters goal. In the return match at Wembley, the England team were jeered and slow-handclapped before eventually recording a 5-0 win.

Poland 2 England 0. 1973
Although the return match at Wembley is more memorable for the multitude of chances missed and great performance from 'Clown' Tomaszewski, this was the match where faith in 1966 heroes captain Bobby Moore and manager Sir Alf Ramsey eroded as England fell to a 2-0 defeat, with errors from their accomplished centre half leading to both goals.

Cyprus 0 England 1. 1975
The first match between the countries saw Malcolm McDonald's famous five-goal haul at Wembley, but the return fixture in Limassol played on a surface described by Don Revie as 'the worst pitch any England side has had to play on' proved far less satisfactory. Kevin Keegan's sixth minute strike was the lone highlight.

Luxembourg 0 England 2. 1977
England needed a hatful of goals to put pressure on Italy in the race for qualification to the World Cup. They did not come and only a last minute goal from Ray Kennedy put the faintest of gloss on the scoreline. Despite victory over the Italians at Wembley, England's failure to score more in this match meant the Azzuri only needed a 1-0 win over the same opposition to reach Argentina. They won 3-0.

England 0 Denmark 1. 1983
Results sometimes don't look as bad in hindsight. This Danish team led by skipper Allan Simonsen showed in the European Championship finals the following year that they were a fine side, but losing out to them in qualification after this defeat at Wembley seemed a terrible performance from England at the time.

Turkey 0 England 1. 1991
Turkey would become one of the best European sides by the end of the decade but at this point memories were fresh of the tanking England had given them in qualification for the 1986 World Cup, which made this slender win courtesy of Dennis Wise's arm little to get excited about.

Norway 2 England 0. 1993
Graham Taylor was already being hounded by the press, but this anaemic performance where he played a new system with Lee Sharpe at left back severely lessened England's chances of World Cup qualification and his prospects of remaining in the job long-term.

England 0 Bulgaria 0. 1998
Following on from defeat against Sweden, the hounding of Glenn Hoddle picked up after this poor performance at Wembley where England scarcely looked like scoring against their mediocre East European opponents.

Northern Ireland 1 England 0. 2005
The result had little bearing on England's prospects for reaching the World Cup but this defeat in Windsor Park to David Healy's strike dealt a blow to the public's confidence in the team succeeding in Germany and it never really recovered.

England 0 Macedonia 0. 2006
If England had drawn with Andorra it would have been their worst ever performance, but a look at their recent history in European football will tell you that a 3-0 home defeat is about par. Similarly although England should have beaten Israel, a big country drawing in Tel Aviv is hardly a landmark event. The goalless draw with Macedonia which began the McClaren witch hunt in earnest was a poor result though and will not look any better in the years ahead.

Source - sky sports news