THE ROAD TO THE USA

                            By Stephen Corry

The UK islands had a rather disappointing finish, in their quest for a place
in the '94 World Cup Finals.

The future for many countries depended on the final nights games held on 17 
November 1993.  With Scotland out, it was down to Wales and England to send 
a UK country to America.

Wales almost qualified, but a late Romanian goal sleighed the mighty Welsh 
dragon, sending them out, in what was Wales' most impressive World Cup 
campaign for a long time.

The Pom's could only qualify provided that they won their game against San 
Marino, and that the Netherlands lost to Poland.

Despite a 7-1 Pommy victory, the Ducth did collect their much needed win, and
that vital 2nd place was lost to Holland.

Across the water, Northern Ireland had long been out of the running, but it 
was thanks to Spain's 1-0 defeat of Denmark in Seville, and a draw in 
Belfast, which saw the Irish Republic on their "Shaky" way to the States.

Mr Charlton's men had looked highly impressive during the early stages of 
the games, but towards the end, they let a lot slip away, and it never 
should have gone to Belfast to qualify.


                      THE WONDERFUL WIZARDS FROM OZ!
Down Under - Australia have had things very bad.  Their path way of 
qualification is through the highly controversial OCEANIA group.

The Ozzy's won their group, and entered into a series of 2 leg knock-out 
competitions - the first of which was against the Kiwi's.

Australia won the opening leg 1-0 (their first ever victory in New Zealand), 
and went onto destroy the furry Kiwi's in the 2nd.

Next, it was off to play Canada from the North American section.

Australia lost the 1st leg in Edmonton 2-1, but in Sydney, the Canadians
were defeated 2-1, and a penalty shoot out finally decided the winner.

The Ozzy's clinched victory, and went onto meet Argentina, from the South 
American section.

Sydney hosted the 1st leg, which saw Australia playing the most impressive 
bit of soccer for many years.

The Argie's opened the score line against the run of play, and Australia
soon equalised.  The game finished 1-1.  

But in Buenos Aires, it was an unlucky deflection at the most acute angle, 
which saw the Ozzy's bowing out 1-0 against Argentina.

Despite Australia's failure to qualify for the States in 1994, their 
impressive performance throughout the campaign has put many critics in 
their place, and although Soccer is a long way from being this countries #1 
game - a lot more interest in the sport has now been shown, with a lot of 
emphasis on how to qualify for the next World Cup.

NOTE:  FIFA have plans to chop the OCEANIA group, and the ridiculous 
qualification routine, so these countries will in future, qualify via the
ASIAN section (well, that's what they say!!!).