If World War II Never Happened: A FIFA World Cup Timeline
- Thread starter NTF aka Seb
- Start date
UEFA Euro 1992 - Group Stage
Part 60 - Romanian Deadweight
UEFA Euro 1992 - Group Stage
UEFA Euro 1992 - Group Stage
Title holders the Netherlands edged out Scotland 1-0 before being held to a goalless draw versus Bohemia despite dominating the match. Nevertheless, a 3-1 triumph over Romania ensured the Dutch advanced as group winners. After their opening loss, Scotland drew 1-1 with Romania and defeated Bohemia 2-0 when it mattered most to advance as runners-up, as the Bohemians and Romanians previously failed to break each other done in a 1-1 stalemate.
Group A of UEFA Euro 1992.
After a tragically disappointing campaign in Germany two years prior, this was a redemption-seeking Sweden. Their respectable 1-1 draw with France was followed by a 1-0 win against Portugal. However, Sweden's true crowning moment came in the final group game versus England, which was won 2-1 and saw the hosts score the goal of the tournament. England's two measly points were obtained in goalless draws against Portugal and France - the latter of the two advanced thanks to their 2-1 victory over neighbours Portugal.
Group B of UEFA Euro 1992.
Wales failed to obtain any points in their 1976 Euro debut. Eight years later, they were just as unsuccessful. By 1992, eight additional years had passed. Would Wales finally find some success? In their opener, Wales managed to obtain their first Euro point in a 1-1 draw versus Serbia. This was followed by an expected 2-1 loss to the reigning world champions Germany, meaning Wales had to defy the odds and defeat the Soviet Union - who previously drew 1-1 with Germany and 0-0 with Serbia - to advance. That's just what they did, defeating the Soviets 2-0. However, Germany still won the group thanks to their entertaining 3-2 win over the Serbians.
Group C of UEFA Euro 1992.
Sighs of disappointment plagued the newly built Parken Stadium [1] in Copenhagen as Denmark drew 0-0 with Ireland in their Euro opener, and when the final whistle sounded after a second goalless draw - against Italy - booing occupied the stadium with even greater frenzy. Denmark finally got on the scoresheet 11 minutes into the match against Croatia, but when the Croats equalized after an hour, Denmark's flop seemed sealed. However, the Danes found another goal and ultimately advanced behind Italy, who beat Croatia 1-0 and Ireland 2-0. Ireland's 1-0 win over Croatia was not enough for advancement.
Group D of UEFA Euro 1992.
Tell me your predictions for the rest of the tournament:
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[1] Opened in September 1992 IOTL, but due to Denmark being a Euro host ITTL it would have been built in time for the tournament here.
In case you missed my edit to the previous post: I messed up slightly with the seeding. Instead of basing the UEFA coefficients on a team’s points per game in the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 1992 and the 1990 World Cup, I did it for Euro 1988, not the 1992 edition. This has now been corrected and is the explanation for why a comment predicts a team to advance from a group it’s not even in. However, note that Bohemia and Portugal were the only teams that had to switch groups, and these changes does not affect the knockout stage or outcome of the tournament compared to what would have happened without my minor mistake.
UEFA Euro 1992 - Knockout Stage
Part 61 - Danish Cryptonite
UEFA Euro 1992 - Knockout Stage
UEFA Euro 1992 - Knockout Stage
The first knockout tie was the most anticipated, featuring France and title holders the Netherlands, who almost also became world champions two years before. As expected, the Dutch opened the scoring, but few would've predicted them to have acquired a 2-0 lead by just the 19th minute. France got on the scoresheet early in the second half, which merely prompted the Netherlands to strengthen their defensive grip on the game. Le Bleus were never close to finding a second.
Hosts Sweden topped a highly competitive group. Nevertheless, they were in the Euro knockout stage for the first time in history, as was Scotland, who silenced Råsunda when they opened the scoring in the 11th minute. Sweden responded well, but failed to break down the Scots throughout the remainder of the half. After the break, the Swedes were back with a plan, equalizing in the 54th minute and going in front shortly past the hour mark. Sweden were in the final four.
Denmark had a period of decent major tournament success behind them However, reigning world champions Germany were always the favorites. Played in Oslo, it was Denmark's first match outside of Copenhagen and Brøndby. But in Norway, the Danes would essentially have home advantage regardless. Accordingly - but also shockingly - Denmark did take the lead in the 18th minute. Excellent saves by Peter Schmeichel enabled them to defend it, and when the lead was sensationally doubled late in the second half, the historic result was confirmed. The world champions were eliminated.
The best quarter-final was not saved for last, as Italy ran out 1-0 victors against Wales, who exceeded expectations and could be proud of their campaign.
Denmark were back in Copenhagen for the semi-final against the title holders and played in high gear from minute one. By just the 33rd minute, Denmark led 2-1. Though tragically, the Dutch equalized as added time was approaching. Some heroic Schmeichel saves took the game to a shootout, despite the Danes also creating some dangerous opportunities. Here, Schmeichel took his valiant efforts to greater heights when he took his Denmark to the final.
Sweden had learned their lesson after falling behind early against Scotland. Against Italy, the Swedes sensationally soared to a 2-0 lead before half-time. After the break, Italy were rejuvenated and were the better team. Inevitably, they got on the scoresheet. In the 74th minute, though they could have done so sooner. Nevertheless, Sweden's last-ditch defending was enough to scrape to the final.
Sweden had not played in a major final in 34 years and had not won anything in 12 additional years. Their opponents were their neighbors and arch-rivals Denmark, who played in their first final ever after an extremely hard route there. They had grown into the tournament magnificently after their underwhelming group stage display. The final was a close, tense and entertaining game that was goalless for the opening 45 minutes. However, with close to an hour played, Tomas Brolin put his Sweden in front. This lead was successfully defended, and the Swedes were European champions for the first time in history.
Knockout stage of UEFA Euro 1992.
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All three of you correctly predicted the quarter-final winners. Well done!
Stay tuned for the 1994 World Cup, where a lot of interesting changes await.
Prelude to the 1994 FIFA World Cup
Part 62 - Fight-or-Flight
Prelude to the 1994 FIFA World Cup
Prelude to the 1994 FIFA World Cup
The United States were awarded hosting rights in July 1988, beating out Morocco’s bid. Chile withdrew before voting took place. The 1994 FIFA World Cup was played from June 17 to July 19. Maintaining the previous format, the 32 participating teams were divided into eight groups of four, from which each winner and runner-up would advance to a knockout stage to decide the winner. For the first time in history, three points would be awarded for a win instead of two.
Zambia qualified from Africa to make their debut, despite their squad being tragically decimated in a plane crash on their way to a World Cup qualifying game in Niamey, Niger, in April 1993. Inspired by some superb goalkeeping by Liverpool’s Bruce Grobbelaar in the qualifiers, Zimbabwe was Africa’s second debutant. Nigeria also qualified for their first World Cup.
Saudi Arabia qualified for their maiden World Cup, while Japan reached the tournament for the first time since 1946. Iraq were back after missing the 1990 tournament.
Bolivia returned after missing the three preceding World Cups, finishing fifth in the CONMEBOL qualifiers and defeating Australia across two inter-confederation play-off legs to earn their spot.
Mexico returned after being banned from the 1990 qualifiers, while Canada qualified after missing the previous edition of the tournament. El Salvador qualified for the first time since 1982.
Norway’s golden generation sensationally finished ahead of the Netherlands and England to qualify for their first World Cup since 1938! Contrastingly, England failed to qualify for the first time in 48 years, a fact made more humiliating by a couple of English tabloids previously criticising FIFA’s 1990 expansion of the World Cup, arguing that it would “destroy the quality of the tournament”. Switzerland’s World Cup drought ended too, reaching the tournament for the first time since 1966.
Tell me your predictions for these interesting groups:
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Stay tuned for the group stage!
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Group A: Romania and Colombia
Group B: Brazil and Cameroon
Group C: Germany and Spain
Group D: Argentina and Nigeria
Group E: Italy and Croatia
Group F: Sweden and Belgium
Group G: Netherlands and Serbia
Group H: Bohemia and Denmark
Group B: Brazil and Cameroon
Group C: Germany and Spain
Group D: Argentina and Nigeria
Group E: Italy and Croatia
Group F: Sweden and Belgium
Group G: Netherlands and Serbia
Group H: Bohemia and Denmark
Group A: USA, Switzerland
Group B: Brazil, Soviet Union (just realized the USSR hasn't fallen/collapsed here, which is interesting. With a greater talent pool, stability, and government backing they might become a decent to great team).
Group C: Germany, Spain, but a tight race with Korea, which is likely an early Asian powerhouse in TTL.
Group D: Argentina, Bulgaria
Group E: Croatia, Mexico a big upset that Italy doesn't make it through. As in OTL, Mexico cleans up its act after the 1990 fiasco becomming a staple of the knockout stage even though it still underperforms. Croatia as in OTL turns into a great underdog.
Group F: Sweden, Belgium
Group G: Netherlands, Uruguay
Group H: Denmark, Bohemia
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Aside from football (great TL BTW), there is of course a gigantic POD by not having WWII, which would be fun to explore in someway:
In Europe
In Europe
- Germany, even after Austrian independence is still larger than OTL and the East/West divide never happened. Thus there are likely much stronger clubs in the East (including cities in Silesia and East Prussia), which of course gives some interesting potential for venues.
- The same goes for Italy, Hungary (at a much smaller scale) and even Poland, which still controls a good chunk of OTL Belarus and Ukraine. Poland could be an interesting future host (replacing Germany in 06 since Germany hosted in 1990).
- The USSR hasn't fallen, which as I noted on my previous post under the right circumstances it could become a powerhouse thanks to a larger talent pool, and some centralized government incentives (this is not a guarantee as seen in OTL's China's Super League, but if done correctly it can help).
- Also Iceland is not necessarily independent and thus Denmark gets slightly bigger. Although like the Faroes in OTL it will likely have a separate FA from Denmark.
- Also, what's up with Danzig? Did it remain independent?
- Korea remained united (and independent from Japan post Sino-Japanese War). It is likely communist, since the US stayed out of the war, so it was freed by China (with help from the USSR, I assume). If we keep the Kim dynasty out and allow it to develop under a lighter communist hand, that opens up on par with China. It could become a regional football powerhouse (like OTL's Japan).
- China itself might be less isolated since the Communist were able to win "on their own" and, if the US is less bellicose / anti-communist the ROC would not have been able to survive in Taiwan.
- Similarly, without US intervention Vietnam likely opened up much sooner in TTL. Ho Chi Mihn might have still come to power, but could have kept ties with the West to counter China. All in all I am sensing an East Asia with better access to football earlier on.
- And with better regional competition, Japan - even if it experience a late Imperial colapse - should be pretty good as well.
- There is a possibility that without the WWII derived famines and an easier independence for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, that these countries could keep a football tradition alive and be good to decent.
- Newfoundland might still be independent. So North America gets another minnow in its sea of minnows.
- Cuba is not necessarily communist and it might be less isolated. Baseball would still be king, but it could potentially field an OK team (en par with Costa Rica), bringing some additional competition.
- No WWII should have completely changed how several countries gained independence, which would 100% affect the development of the football traditions, the CAF, etc. This is very much a free for all.
Thanks a lot.
Excellent thoughts. It's greatly rewarding that my TL has inspired someone to look at it from so many different angles.
- Poland as a potential 2006 World Cup host is fascinating to think about.
- The Soviet Union remaining intact is interesting. It's certainly within the realm of possibility that they win a major tournament before the present-day ITTL.
- Iceland and the Faroe Islands have their own national teams.
- The Nazis seized control of Danzig around the time of TTL's Anschluss and invasion of Czechoslovakia, and it's still a part of Germany due to TTL's lack of foreign intervention.
- Korea already dominates Asia and it's not even close. If TTL's 2002 World Cup is also played in Korea, there's no reason to believe they couldn't win the whole thing (not saying they necessarily will).
- India are better ITTL, but they are not yet good enough to reach a World Cup (I keep track of the qualifiers behind the scenes).
Glad you liked. I work for a football (sports) equipment company and learned geography looking up teams across the world growing up. So I've tough about such scenarios, never really thought about a TL on this till now. Brilliant idea.
Also, the TL implies that the 1940 and 1944 would not have been cancelled. This had already been assigned to Helsinki / Garmisch-Partenkirchen for 1940 summer and winter respectively, after Tokyo and Sapporo had lost them already due to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, and London / Cortina d'Ampezzo for 1944 summer winter. While the Winter Olympics were changed London and Helskini kept the 1948 and 1950 Olympics (with no other bidders). It would be interesting to see how these fill out as well.