After failing to qualify for the 1986 world cup finals, Wales played a sequence of friendly matches between October 1985 and September 1986 which proved to be a mixed bag of results for the Welsh. The highs of the friendlies included a fine 3-0 away win against Canada and 1-0 away win at Dublin against Eire. Their Euro 88 qualifying campaign did not get off to a bad start as they won two of their first three matches, including a fine 4-0 win against Finland and 1-0 victory over Denmark. Wales were at the top of the group when they travelled to Copenhagen in a qualification match against Denmark in October 1987, losing the encounter 1-0. They followed that up by a 2-0 defeat against Czechoslovakia. They came into the 1990 world cup qualifying matches on the back of poor form despite boasting a strong team that included Kevin Ratcliffe, Neville Southall, Ian Rush and Mark Hughes.

Partner Websites: Height Increase Football World Cup Stop Smoking Health Website They started off the qualifying campaign with a 1-0 defeat against Holland. They met Israel in a friendly played at Tel Aviv in February 1989, drawing a thrilling contest 3-3. Two consecutive defeats against West Germany and Holland meant they had no chance of qualifying for the competition.