Despite the English clubs having notable success in the early 1990s, the national side was not doing too well. This is a bit topical, if you are dismayed by the efforts from our chaps recently. It's tough out there!! Graham Taylor led the England team to unqualified disappointment when failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
This was the first World Cup since World War 2 in which none of the UK home nations qualified (they withdrew their FIFA memberships between 1928 and 1946, during the first three tournaments), with England (finishing third behind Norway and Netherlands in Group 2) missing out after having finished fourth in the 1990 tournament, and Scotland (who finished fourth in Group 1) failing to qualify for the first time since 1970. France, who had been already designated as hosts of the 1998 tournament, also missed out following surprise home losses to Israel and Bulgaria This was the second World Cup in a row for which France had failed to qualify, and the last one to date not to feature England, France, and Japan. Other notable absentees were 1986 and 1990 Round of 16 participants Uruguay, UEFA Euro 1992 champions Denmark, Poland, Portugal and Hungary.
Due to this failure, a lot of the competiton has drifted past our memories and not everyone will remember Brazil winning their 4th World Cup, on penalties, at the expense of Italy, who had been dragged through the final by Roberto Baggio, only for the captain and arguably ther best player? to miss the crucial penalty, handing the trophy to Brazil.
| World Cup USA '94 | |
|---|---|
 Making Soccer History | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | United States |
| Dates | June 17 – July 17 |
| Teams | 24 (from 5 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 9 (in 9 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Brazil (4th title) |
| Runners-up |  Italy |
| Third place |  Sweden |
| Fourth place |  Bulgaria |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 52 |
| Goals scored | 141 (2.71 per match) |
| Attendance | 3,597,042 (69,174 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Hristo Stoichkov Oleg Salenko(6 goals each) |
| Best player(s) | Romário |
| Best young player |  Marc Overmars |
| Best goalkeeper |  Michel Preud'homme |
| Fair play award | Brazil |
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