1978 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2

Group 2 consisted of four of the 32 teams entered into the European zone:[1] England, Finland, Italy, and Luxembourg. These four teams competed on a home-and-away basis for one of the 8.5 spots in the final tournament allocated to the European zone, with the group's winner claiming the spot.

Standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Italy 6 5 0 1 18 4 +14 10
2  England 6 5 0 1 15 4 +11 10
3  Finland 6 2 0 4 11 16 −5 4
4  Luxembourg 6 0 0 6 2 22 −20 0
Source: [citation needed]

Matches

Finland 1 – 4 England
Paatelainen 27' Report Pearson 14'
Keegan 30', 60'
Channon 56'

Finland 7 – 1 Luxembourg
A. Heiskanen 15'
E. Heiskanen 22', 27'
Rissanen 51', 61'
Heikkinen 54'
Mäkynen 82' (pen.)
Report G. Zender 52'
Referee: Thime (Norway)

England 2 – 1 Finland
Tueart 4'
Royle 51'
Report Nieminen 48'
Referee: Eriksson (Sweden)

Luxembourg 1 – 4 Italy
Braun 86' Report Graziani 24'
Bettega 44', 81'
Antognoni 50'
Referee: Dörflinger (Switzerland)

Italy 2 – 0 England
Antognoni 36'
Bettega 77'
Report
Referee: Klein (Israel)

England 5 – 0 Luxembourg
Keegan 9'
T. Francis 58'
Kennedy 65'
Channon 68', 79' (pen.)
Report
Referee: Bonett (Malta)

Luxembourg 0 – 1 Finland
Report A. Heiskanen 57'
Referee: Amundsen (Denmark)

Finland 0 – 3 Italy
Report Gentile 8'
Bettega 56'
Benetti 81'
Referee: Helies (France)

Luxembourg 0 – 2 England
Report Kennedy 31'
Mariner 90'
Referee: Jarguz (Poland)

Italy 6 – 1 Finland
Bettega 29', 38', 59', 62'
Graziani 45'
Zaccarelli 71'
Report Haaskivi 67'
Referee: Dudin (Bulgaria)

England 2 – 0 Italy
Keegan 11'
Brooking 80'
Report
Referee: Palotai (Hungary)

Italy 3 – 0 Luxembourg
Bettega 4'
Graziani 11'
Causio 56'
Report
Referee: Maksimović (Yugoslavia)

Notes

  1. ^ Only 31 of the entered teams actually competed in the qualification tournament: West Germany qualified for the World Cup automatically as defending champions.