THE LOST EUROS
Ireland had a real chance but failed to qualify 13
EURO ’92 was the tournament won by a team, Denmark, which should never have been in Sweden while the team that should, the Republic of Ireland, enjoyed a jolly in the United States.
Denmark will forever have their hour of glory from the 1992 finals, but these were the finals cruelly wrenched from the grasp of an Irish team in their prime.
To this day when ex-Irish players gather for a reunion, they shake their heads in dismay whenever Euro ’92 is mentioned – because it was theirs, not just for the playing, but for the winning.
In contrast, the tournament made unlikely heroes of the likes of journeymen John Jensen and Kim Vilfort, two of 13 players on the books of Danish clubs at the time.
Jensen, of the curly locks and moustache, scored a wonder strike in the final against Germany, and was instantly sold by Brondby to Arsenal, where he took 98 games to score again.
He managed just that one goal in 138 appearances for the Gunners before being sold on. His departure wasn’t lamented on Highbury’s North Bank.
Vilfort played four of the five games but his tournament was masked by tragedy. Twice he left the camp to attend to his stricken daughter who was fighting leukaemia — seven-year-old Line Vilfort died shortly after the finals.
Amid the artisans, there were stars too. Peter Schmeichel’s was named in UEFA’s Team of the Year and his value soared much to the delight of Manchester United, who bagged him the summer before from Brondby for a knockdown £500,000.
Brian Laudrup, then with Bayern Munich, was rewarded for making peace with coach Richard Møller-Nielsen by spurring Denmark through their five challenges in Sweden.
His brother Michael, in contrast, made himself unavailable which, on reflection, perhaps wasn’t his smartest career move.
The finals were the last of the old-style Euros, involving just eight nations and four venues.
It was far more slimline than today’s bloated 24-team monster, was also the last with two points for a win and which allowed goalkeepers to pick up a back-pass.
It was also run off in jig time, between June 10 and June 26.
The Danes, who were drafted in for the finals at a week’s notice after Yugoslavia pulled out because of escalating Balkans tension, were drawn in Group 1 with hosts Sweden, France and England, who had edged out Ireland for qualification.
After two games, the Danes appeared doomed. They hadn’t scored a goal and managed one point against a very average England which included Keith Curle, Carlton Palmer and Alan Smith.
But the final round of games turned the group upside down. Improbably, the Danes scored twice against France in Malmo, including a 78th-minute winner from substitute Lars Elstrup.
At the same time, Sweden beat England by the same score to top the group on five points, ahead of the Danes on three.
Scarcely believing their luck, the Danes threw away their chains of caution against the defending champions, Holland, in the semifinal in Gothenburg.
Twice they led through Henrik Larsen, a strapping midfielder, but each time the Dutch fought back before it went to penalties and, improbably, Marco Van Basten missed for the Dutch.
While neutrals rooted for the Danes against Germany in the final in Stockholm, they were written off as no-hopers against the world champions. But Jensen’s burner and a late second from the heroic Vilfort sealed an improbable triumph.
By June 26, the Irish players were on holidays, well away from Sweden. Their end of season schedule had been a hectic one with a three-game trip to US, made infamous for a row between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy.
Prior to that, they had kicked off the 1994 World Cup qualifiers with a 2-0 home win over Albania.
The team that day was one of the strongest selected by Jack Charlton: Bonner, Irwin, McGrath, O’Leary, Staunton; Houghton, Townsend, Keane, Sheedy; Quinn, Aldridge. Mick McCarthy and Tommy Coyne came on as substitutes.
What could that side have achieved in Sweden?
We’ll never know but Houghton, who played in three major finals, argues it would have stood up to any of the Charlton era.
Bonner, McCarthy, McGrath, Aldridge were at the height of their powers; Irwin was recently established in the first XI while Keane’s arrival brought energy and drive to central midfield. So where did it go wrong? Three factors contributed: the state of the pitch at Lansdowne Road; sloppy finishing in a 1-1 draw at Wembley; and defensive lapses in Poland.
Ireland coughed up draws at home to England and Poland on a pock-marked surface, which proved damaging to their hopes of topping the group. After playing England off the park on their own turf, Charlton made a bee-line for Houghton in the players’ bar and publicly berated him for missing a sitter.
Even then, qualification remained in Irish hands with two games to go — but it was not to be. First, Ireland uncharacteristically blew a 3-1 lead with 13 minutes to go in Poznan and then, in the final round of matches, after beating Turkey 3-1 in intimidating Istanbul, they learnt of Gary Linker’s late equaliser in Poland.
That point secured a prized place in Euro ’92 for England, not Ireland, who instead had to refocus on the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.
By chance, they came up against the Danes. They drew twice but edged them out on goals scored to qualify for the finals and further reinforce the view that Euro ’92 was the one that got away.