TBT #04 – When Israel almost made history in Oceania

The year was 1989 and people were starting to get anxious for 1990 World Cup. Which teams are going to qualify to the final stage? Will Argentina win again? Can Germany revenge the loss to Argentina in 1986’s final?

Well, Germany and Argentina really clashed in 1990 World Cup Final just like they did in 1986 but at that time Germany won the championship to become a three-time world champion alongside with Italy (1934, 1938 and 1982) and Brazil (1958, 1962 and 1970). Germany and Argentina would also meet again in 2014 World Cup final.

That is the history everbody knows. But a World Cup is sorrounded by lots of historical things that people just forget and one of these histories took place in Oceania. Do you know what happened in Oceania during 1990 World Cup Qualifiers? No? Oceania Football Center will tell you!

OFC Qualifiers for 1990 World Cup was played between 1988 and 1989. Australia and New Zealand qualified for the second stage after beating Fiji and Chinese Taipei respectively to face Israel for a spot in the OFC-CONMEBOL World Cup play-off.

But… Why was Israel playing with Oceania?

In 1974 Israel was excluded from AFC (Asian Football Confederation) competitions as a result of a proposal by Kuwait which was adopted after a voting. In the 1974 Asian Games, the football competition was marred by the refusal of both North Korea and Kuwait to play second-round matches against Israel. They still played 1978 World Cup qualifiers in Asian Zone, but for 1982 World Cup they played UEFA (European Confederation) qualifier ending the tournament on the bottom of Group 6 with just one win in eight matches.

They played the next two World Cup Qualifiers (1986 and 1990) in Oceanian zone and in 1990 Israel was just one goal from making history.

In April 1989 Israel National Team traveled more than 15000 kilometers to face Australia and New Zealand in the last two matches of Oceanian World Cup Qualifier. After a 2-2 draw against the New Zealanders, the Israeli National Team just needed a draw against Australia to qualify for OFC-CONMEBOL play-off and that was exactly what happened. Israel and Australia match ended drawn by 1-1 and Israel qualified for play-off to face Colombia.

After a Colombian win by 1-0 in South America, Israel had the opportunity to decide the play-off at home but they could not score and the second match ended drawn at zero. This result qualified Colombia to World Cup.

In 1991 Israel joined UEFA as a full-time member and they have been playing in European Zone since then. They played only one World Cup in 1970.