Group F of the 1986 FIFA World Cup was one of the groups of the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

. The group's first round of matches began on 2 June and its last matches were played on 11 June. Most matches were played at the Estadio Universitario and the Estadio Tecnológico in

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

. After the first four matches yielded just two goals, locals dubbed it the "Group of Sleep".

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

surprisingly topped the group, joined in the second round by

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

were the other team in this group, making their first appearance since 1966. Morocco drew their first two matches 0–0 against Poland and England, while Portugal defeated England in their opening match 1–0, but were themselves beaten by Poland by the same scoreline. England's match against Morocco featured their first sending-off in a World Cup, when

Ray Wilkins Raymond Colin Wilkins (14 September 1956 – 4 April 2018) was an English football player and coach. Born into a footballing family with his father and three brothers involved in the game, Wilkins played as a midfielder. He began his career a ...

was shown a red card after throwing the ball which struck the referee when an offside decision went against England. Thus, Poland led the group after two games, with Portugal in second place on goals scored. However, England defeated Poland 3–0 with a first half hat-trick from

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker ( ; born 30 November 1960) is an English Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

to take second place behind Morocco, who beat Portugal 3–1 with goals from Abderrazak Khairi and Abdelkrim Merry. Poland, in third, only qualified for the second round as one of the four best third-place finishers.

Standings

Matches

Morocco vs Poland

Portugal vs England

England vs Morocco

Poland vs Portugal

England vs Poland

Portugal vs Morocco

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Group F

Group F Group F may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant dif ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

Poland at the 1986 FIFA World Cup

Group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

Portugal at the 1986 FIFA World Cup