After many days, for Italian fans, the frustration of not winning the World Cup has not dissipated. As the winner of Euro 2020, Italy was still enjoying the supreme glory of reaching the top of Europe less than a year ago, but now it has lost to North Macedonia and announced its inception of the World Cup.
Looking at history, there are few cases of being a European Champion but not qualifying for the next World Cup, but it is not without a trace. In addition to Italy, there are 3 other teams that "enjoy" this embarrassing record.
Czechoslovakia (Euro 1976, missed the 1978 FIFA World Cup)
As early as 1956, UEFA began to prepare for the competition to be played by the national teams of European countries. Two years later, the first European Championship qualifiers began. The original purpose of the tournament was to fill the gap between the two World Cups and give European countries more opportunities to compete.
The rules at the beginning of the European Championship were very different from today, when the European Cup was divided into two stages: qualifiers and final weeks, except for the host who can automatically enter the final week, other UEFA member teams must participate in the qualifiers and obtain the right to qualify in the qualifiers to enter the final week, which consists of 4 teams.
The 1976 Euro 1976 qualifiers consisted of 32 teams divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each. The first place in each group will advance to the quarter-finals, the quarter-finals will be played over two legs home and away, and the winner will advance to the final week. Czechoslovakia was divided into Group 1 with England, Cyprus and Portugal.
In the first match against England, Czechoslovakia did not perform well
In the first away game against England, with Mick Channon's opening record and Colin Bell's scoring, Czechoslovakia suffered a 0-3 defeat; after that, facing Cyprus and Portugal, which were weaker than themselves on paper, Czechoslovakia seized the opportunity and won 5-0 and 4-0 in succession, successfully closing the point gap with England.
In the second leg against England, Czechoslovakia faced a life-and-death battle. With England losing points to Portugal in both legs, As long as Czechoslovakia can win smoothly, it can achieve a counter-attack.
Czechoslovakia scored two goals against England
Thanks to the success of Zdnek Nehoda and Toussan Gallis, Czechoslovakia defeated England 2-1 and finally won the top spot in the group by a slight margin of one point, and was given the opportunity to participate in the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-finals against the Soviet Union, which had previously reached all four and three finals, the undesirable Czechoslovakia won 2-0 at home and drew 2-2 away, becoming one of the four teams that qualified for final week.
Anton Ondrush opened the record
The final week of Euro 1976 took place in Yugoslavia from 16 to 20 June. In the semi-finals against the Netherlands, Anton Ondrusz opened the scoring for Czechoslovakia and then scored a oolong goal in the 73rd minute to "help" the Netherlands tie the score.
The 1-1 score was maintained until the end of regular time, and Czechoslovakia showed more sophisticated experience in extra time, beating the Netherlands 3-1 in the 114th and 118th minutes to advance to the final.
Facing the Federal Republic of Germany in the final, West Germany, as the winner of the 1974 World Cup, was superior to Czechoslovakia in terms of morale and staffing. However, from the first minute of the game, Czechoslovakia not only did not retreat under the West German attack, but instead used a strict offensive and defensive system to resist the West German attack led by Beckenbauer, and goalkeeper Victor made many key saves during this period to ensure that the city gate was not lost.
Czechoslovakia made the perfect start
In less than 25 minutes, Czechoslovakia was already leading by two goals. Under pressure, the more powerful West Germany finally regained its form of play, on the one hand, they controlled the situation on the verge of collapse, on the other hand, strengthened the control of two points, and three minutes later, Dieter Müller chased back a goal with a beautiful volley.
The match then stalled until the 89th minute, when Holzenbairn took a corner kick and scored the equaliser, dragging the game into extra time.
Afraid of the year card spoon penalty
In extra time, neither side, exhausted, achieved anything, and the first penalty shootout of the World Series began. West Germany's Hoeness kicked away, Parnianka won with an unprecedented spoon penalty, and Czechoslovakia beat West Germany 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out to win the first European Championship in team history!
At this time, Czechoslovakia was unique, not only did they reach the top of Europe in history, but they also cultivated a group of strong and experienced stars in the training of the competition.
With higher expectations, Czechoslovakia embarked on a journey to the 1978 World Cup. In the group stage, Czechoslovakia, along with Scotland and Wales, was divided into Group 7.
According to the rules, there were 9.5 places in Europe at that time (the last World Cup champion West Germany directly advanced, so there were actually 8.5 places), except for the winner of the 9th group who had to participate in the intercontinental play-offs, the remaining 8 groups 1 directly won the World Cup place.
Objectively speaking, since Czechoslovakia's group has only 3 teams (some groups have 4 teams), their difficulty in qualifying has been reduced.
However, after the first 2-0 Scotland, Czechoslovakia fell into a vicious circle of successive winless - 0-3, 1-3 to Wales and Scotland, so that their situation in the standings took a sharp turn, and finally only achieved a record of 2 wins and 2 losses, losing to Scotland's second place in the group and failing to qualify.
Denmark (UEFA Euro 1992, missed the 1994 FIFA World Cup)
The Danish team's victory at Euro 1992 was a realistic version of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.
In the qualifiers of that European Championship, Yugoslavia achieved a perfect record of 7 wins, 1 loss, 24 goals and only 4 goals conceded, and won the first place in the group with a slight advantage of 1 point.
Surprisingly, due to the outbreak of civil war in Yugoslavia, UEFA officially announced that Yugoslavia would be banned from participating in Euro 1992 due to national division and civil war, and its qualification was replaced by Denmark, who won the second place in the group in the qualifiers.
In this way, Denmark, which had already decided not to qualify for the 1992 European Championship, was lucky to qualify, and a "miracle" in football began.
At that time, the number of teams participating in the final week of the European Championship had expanded to 8, divided into two groups (4 teams in each group), with the top 2 teams advancing to the semi-finals and the other two being eliminated.
Denmark and Sweden, France and England are divided into Group 1, and they naturally do not have the advantage of strength when they make up for the competition. However, Britain and France were collectively sluggish in this European Championship, and although Denmark lost 0-1 to Sweden in the second round, it defeated France with Platini and Cantona 2-1 in the final round to get two key points and push Britain and France to reach the semifinals.
In the semi-finals against the favourite Netherlands, Denmark was weaker than their opponents in terms of group performance and overall strength.
Years later, Danish star Jensen is still impressed by that match: "We can't imagine facing such a formidable opponent, they have superstars like Rijkaard, Van Basten, Bergkamp, they look so arrogant and don't pay attention to us at all. ”
Larson doubled
In the 5th minute of the match, Larson's header opened the scoring for Denmark, and then Bergkamp equalised with a shot from outside the perimeter in the 23rd minute. 10 minutes later, Larson scored another goal in a similar way to Bergkamp, with Rijkaard equalizing twice for the Netherlands in the 88th minute.
Both sides were unsuccessful in extra time and then entered into a penalty shootout. At this time, Brian Laudrup withdrew from the field injured, the Dane who lacked the main player withstood the pressure of 5 free throws, Schmeichel became famous, saved Van Basten's shot, and blocked the championship favorite Netherlands from the final, Schmeichel's save was also known as "the greatest save in the last decade of the 20th century".
"Playing alongside Gullit, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Encinas and Rijkaard, the victory over the Netherlands in the semi-finals was already unexpected. And participating in the final is simply a good thing to make a dream come true, not to mention scoring goals in the final. ”
It is conceivable that even if the ticket to the final has been obtained, there is still some lack of confidence in Denmark in the face of the behemoth on the final stage.
Jensen admits: "At the beginning we could hardly get close to the German penalty area, and without Schmeichel we could have lost two goals. “
After surviving the difficulties of the opening stage, the Danish team gradually stabilized its position, on the one hand, adjusting the defensive deployment and reducing the pressure on Schmeichel, and on the other hand, strengthening the front court and blocking the German attack outside the three zones.
In the 19th minute of the game, the Danish efforts paid off - Bremer took the ball and was cut off, and Paulson passed the ball to find Jensen, whose shot from 17 meters away from the goal passed through Irgna's ten-finger mark, Giving Denmark the lead!
The German team then launched a crazy counterattack, and Denmark was once pressed into the big box and could not move. In such an extremely passive situation, Denmark, which is based on defensive counterattacks, although the wind and rain, have never allowed Germany to score the equalizer.
In the 78th minute of the match, Wilfford, who was still traveling between Denmark and Sweden during the European Championship due to his daughter leukemia, scored a goal that ended the suspense - he clipped Thomas Helmer, calmly fired a shot at the line of the large penalty area, and knocked on the goal guarded by Irgna again.
In the end, in the face of the German team's continuous full-field attack, the Danish team not only withstood the pressure, but also used a lively 2-0 color to create a "Danish fairy tale" that could be passed down through the ages!
In the 1994 FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers, a total of 39 UEFA teams qualified (Germany, the winner of the previous World Cup, automatically qualified), and as Liechtenstein withdrew before the draw and Yugoslavia was banned worldwide, the remaining 37 teams competed for 12 places.
The 37 teams were divided into 6 groups, with the top two in each group advancing directly to the World Cup finals. Denmark is grouped with Spain, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia and Albania.
Of the seven teams, Lithuania, Latvia and Albania have limited strength and do not have the strength to compete for the top 2 in the group. Overall, the group is more contentious between the three teams of Spain, Denmark and Ireland.
As the winner of the European Championship, the Danish team is naturally regarded as the best candidate for the top spot in the group. However, the European champions had an awkward start, first drawing 0-0 away to Latvia and Lithuania, and then being forced to draw at home by Ireland, scoring only three points in three rounds.
Since then, Denmark has adjusted its form in time, achieving an excellent record of 7 wins and 1 draw in 8 rounds, successfully surpassing Spain and Ireland, and re-occupying the first place in the group.
In the final round against Spain, Denmark will be sure to get a World Cup spot as long as it does not lose. Surprisingly, the Danes, who had already regained their form, were once again lost in this crucial battle, and against Spain, who played one less person in the opening 11 minutes, Denmark's attacks were defused again and again.
In the 63rd minute of the match, Spain took advantage of a corner kick opportunity to be scored by Hierro's header, and Denmark fell behind on the road and eventually lost 1-0.
On the other hand, Spain, with this precious victory, staged a victorious escape in the final round of the group, occupying the first place in the group with 19 points, while Ireland and Denmark had the same points, the same goal difference, and the same win-loss relationship, and as a result, Ireland team used the advantage of the number of goals to force Denmark to advance.
In this way, the unlucky Dane became the second European Champion after Czechoslovakia to miss the World Cup.
Greece (Euro 2004, missed the 2006 FIFA World Cup)
Fans have debated over the years about who was more difficult in the 1992 "Danish Fairy Tale" vs. 2004 "Greek Myth". Overall, Denmark's replacement title is undoubtedly magical, while the Greek squad is more civilian, and the final victory is also a "miracle".
In the European Championship qualifiers, Greece won the first place in the group with a brilliant result of 6 wins and 2 losses, pushing Spain directly to the main competition.
It is worth mentioning that in fact, as early as the qualifiers, the "magic" of Greece has begun to emerge.
In the first two rounds of the group stage, Greece lost to Spain and Ukraine 0-2 in the same way, directly falling to the bottom of the group. Just when people took it for granted that they were associated with the "Passer-by", the Greeks began to exert their strength, and then won all 6 rounds, and scored 8 goals without losing a goal.
From the offensive data, Greece can only rank 3rd in the same group, and even not much different from Armenia, but it is precisely with a stable defensive performance that it can break through in the context of the offensive data is not prominent.
After 24 years of returning to the European Championship, Greece is full of expectations, but the reality is also full of ups and downs - in the same group, there are also the old rivals Spain in the qualifiers, the host Portugal, and later the only Russia that gave them the only defeat.
You know, even with a good performance in the qualifiers, Greece's resume in the intercontinental competitions is not bright - the last time they participated in the European Championship was in the distant 1980, although they reached the World Cup final in 1994, but they lost all three games.
That's not even the most surprising thing, in fact, they haven't tasted a single win in a major tournament before.
Both sides started
The Greek team welcomed the host Portugal in the first match, Figo, Rui Costa, Nuno Gomez, and the new star C Ronaldo, which announced the host's determination to win the championship, and also made the pre-match public opinion almost turn to Portugal.
But the football world is so wonderful, Sitting on the home side of Portugal's opening mistakes, in the 7th minute of the game, the Greek team caught the Portuguese defender out of the ball error, by The Cala Gounis steal after the low shot score;
Shortly after the start of the second half, Portugal made a mistake in the front, Greece launched a counterattack after the steal, and C Ronaldo, who struggled to recover, pulled down Sitaridis in the penalty area and gave Greece a penalty, and then Basinas scored to extend the score.
Although Cristiano Ronaldo pulled back a city with a header in injury time, it still could not prevent Greece from ushering in the opening.
Greece followed in two matches, drawing with Spain and being beaten 2-1 by Russia in the final round. But in the comparison of the total number of goals scored (the difference between the two sides and the relationship between the winners and losers are the same), Greece overpowered Spain and made a thrilling breakthrough to the knockout stages.
In the quarter-finals, Greece welcomed the powerful French team. Even now when talking about the French team, there is still a sense of awe in Frasas's tone: "The French team has Zidane, Henry, Piré, Thuram, Lizarazu. They have a lot of great players. ”
To this end, Greece designed a tight defensive deployment against the French offensive system to limit the play of Zidane and Henry. In addition, simplifying the offensive process and focusing on offensive efficiency have also been repeatedly emphasized.
In the end, with a brilliant header from Anelos Charlisteas, Greece reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship.
Despite the heroic performance, the outside world's evaluation of this "super dark horse" is not positive.
Many fans believe that the coaching career of Rehagel (then the coach of the Greek team) was based on tight defense and cautious (some people call it boring) tactics, and their games were too boring, too negative, erasing the viewing and fun of the game, ruining the game, and eliminating the more outstanding teams.
But Rehagel didn't care about the criticism of the outside world, and after winning the Victory over France, he realized that his team could try something crazier.
In the semi-final against the Czech Republic, not many people still believe that Greece will be the last to laugh.
Platini once praised the Czech attacking line of Nedved, Jan Koehler and Milan Barosz, while the civilian squad of the Greek team was silent.
Indeed, greece is not the best candidate for a "European champion" in terms of ornamental and commercial value. At the time, some even called them "the only dark horse team in history that everyone wanted to see them defeated."
But as Phisas puts it: "We only have innate weapons, we don't have players like Zidane, Simão or Cristiano Ronaldo, we only have desperation, sacrifice, determination, and firm faith." ”
It turns out that beliefs are by no means illusory concepts, but can literally change their destiny.
The Czechs' proud and flamboyant attack still failed to knock on Greece's door, and towards the end of the first half of extra time, Greece scored a corner kick and Terrajanos Dras scored the only goal of the game.
It is worth mentioning that Dras' goal is the only "silver ball" in history: UEFA once stipulated that if the balance of the score was broken after 15 minutes of extra time, the extra time would end immediately. However, this rule has only been implemented in one tournament, that is, the European Championship that belongs to the Greek team.
On July 5, 2004, at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, after stepping through the mighty France and the Czech Republic, Greece ushered in its last big test before creating a myth – in the final, their opponent was the host Portugal.
Portugal's starting line-up has not changed and Scolari continues to trust Pauletta. Rehagel replaced the suspended Karagounis with Janakopolos, while centre-back Capsis took the lead despite a slight knee injury.
A short and grand closing ceremony was held before the match, with FIFA President Blatter, Portuguese President Sampaio, Prime Minister Barroso and Greek Prime Minister Carlamanlis watching from the VIP seat.
As always, Greece still puts defense first, while star-studded Portugal is looking forward to a quick end to Greek hopes with a crisp, fluid attack.
In the ultimate dialogue between spear and shield, the Greeks had the upper hand – Portugal, while mastering the ball, was slow to extend the threat attack to The Greek defensive zone III. On the other hand, Greece, the scene seems to be passive, but in fact, it is hidden, the superficial retreat is only a compromise of poor strength, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack is the real purpose of the Greek team.
In the 57th minute, Sitaridis assisted the cross on the right, C Ronaldo blocked the ball out of the bottom line, Basinas opened the team's first corner on the right side, Chalistias pressed Costinha and Carvalho, 6 meters in front of the goal to head the goal, Ricardo, who had already attacked, could only watch the ball into the net, Greece led 1-0!
Portugal, which was in a desperate situation at home, launched a more violent counterattack, but Greece after taking the lead was more at ease, and Portugal missed many offensive opportunities because of its anxious attack. In the end, Greece won 1-0 on portugal's doorstep to win the first European Championship in team history!
The glory of the European Championship has made Athens a sea of joy, and fans can't help but think about the World Cup two years later – we have reached the top of Europe, can we go further on the world stage?
In the 2006 FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers, Greece was divided into Group 2 with Ukraine, Turkey, Denmark, Albania, Georgia and Kazakhstan.
In the context of more average strength on paper, Greece has lost the sharpness of the European Cup, on the one hand, the defensive counterattack + set-piece utilization they advocate is limited by the targeted; on the other hand, with the success of the high school forward tactics in the European Cup, a series of coping methods have also come into being, Greece not only failed to replicate the glory of the European Cup, but also suffered in the weak brigade.
In the first round against Albania, Greece conceded two goals in the first 11 minutes, and based on defense, they were forced to change tactics, and although They were pulled back by Jennakopolos, they still lost the game 1-2.
Since then, although Greece has also created a wave of consecutive wins, but the two-legged draw with Turkey, the home defeat to Ukraine, and the away defeat to Denmark have made the team score few points on its direct competitors, and finally ranked 4th in the group with only 6 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses, and missed the World Cup early.
epilogue
Italian-style tragedies are not monolithic, and Czechoslovakia, Denmark, and Greece have all suffered from this embarrassment. But unlike these three, Italy has been a well-deserved top team for most of its history, and winning the European Championship was the beginning of a renaissance, but the upset failure to qualify for the World Cup revealed the problems that were once buried. Just like Czechoslovakia, Denmark and Greece, the short-lived glory is dazzling, but how to keep this glory is equally important.