The

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

OFC–

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

qualification play-off was a

two-legged In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...

home-and-away tie between the winners of the Oceania qualifying tournament and CONCACAF–OFC play-off winners,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and the second-placed team from the CONMEBOL Group 1,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Overview

The games were played on 31 October and 17 November 1993 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

respectively. Australia was hoping to play in the FIFA World Cup for the first time since

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, and Argentina was hoping to qualify after reaching the FIFA World Cup Final three times in the previous four FIFA World Cups. The only time that Argentina failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup was in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. This qualification play-off notably immediately followed Argentina's 5–0 defeat by

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

at home in Buenos Aires on 5 September 1993. The crowd of 43,967 who watched the first leg played at the

Sydney Football Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...

was at the time a stadium record crowd for any sporting event. The series were notable for being the first time Argentina had to play a qualification play-off match in their history. Moreover, the series saw the return of

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

to the national team after a long dispute with manager

Alfio Basile Alfio () is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: * Alfio Basile, Argentina football coach * Alfio Bonanno, Australian tenor * Alfio Caltabiano, Italian actor * Alfio Contini, Italian cinematographer * Alfio Fazio, Italian c ...

. Some years later, Maradona suggested that drug tests were deliberately avoided during the series, stating that "to play against Australia, the Association gave us a 'fast coffee'" to drink before the match."Para jugar con Australia te daban un café veloz"
''La Nación'', 23 May 2011

Background

Match details

First leg

----

Second leg

;Notes

Broadcasting rights

* : SBS *

: Canal 9, NexTV! & TeleRed (Only first leg are broadcast live); Eltrece, Canal 30 &

Nuevo Siglo Cable TV Nuevo is the Spanish word for "new". It may refer to: * Nuevo, California, a town in the state of California * Nuevo (band), featuring singer and musician Peter Godwin * Nuevo (Bayamón), a settlement in Puerto Rico * "Nuevo", Spanish-language vers ...

(Only second leg are broadcast live)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL-OFC play-off) 1993 in Australian soccer Play-off CONCOCAF-OFC P2

World Cup 1994 The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Qual Soccer in Sydney FIFA World Cup qualification inter-confederation play-offs International association football competitions hosted by Argentina International association football competitions hosted by Australia Sports competitions in Buenos Aires Sports competitions in Sydney 1990s in Sydney 1990s in Buenos Aires October 1993 sports events in Australia November 1993 sports events in South America Football in Buenos Aires