Field for '94 World Cup Is Set Once and for All : Soccer: Wednesday's 12 games decide final nine places in 24-team tournament that begins next June. England is out.

By JULIE CART

Nov. 18, 1993 12 AM PT

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Finally, all the invitations to next year’s World Cup finals can be mailed. A wild scramble on the last day of qualifying saw Italy and the Netherlands qualify, and England win by six goals, but fail to advance. Argentina, runner-up in the last World Cup, exhibited its usual flair for drama and became the last team to qualify Wednesday night.

Nearly two years of arduous qualifying came to an end Wednesday and much of the world stopped to watch it. In Bulgaria, parliament postponed a vote to decide the fate of the nation’s cabinet, lest politicians miss the key qualifier between Bulgaria and France. The fate of Bulgaria’s soccer team was decided Wednesday, the cabinet will have to wait until today.

Only Germany, as defending champion, and the United States, as host, had automatically qualified for next summer’s World Cup, to be held in nine American cities. The rest of the world had to earn the right to participate in the world’s largest single sporting event through a protracted qualifying process. Some 141 nations began qualifying play in the round-robin tournament.

Mexico became the first to qualify when it beat Canada in Toronto on May 9. But Wednesday’s 12 games decided the final nine places in the 24-team tournament. Never before in World Cup qualifying had so many places been decided on the last day.

The nine final qualifiers:

Italy--qualified for the ninth consecutive time with a 1-0 victory over Portugal.

Argentina--by beating Australia, 1-0.

Switzerland--by beating Estonia, 4-0.

The Netherlands--by beating Poland, 4-0.

Ireland--by tying Northern Ireland, 1-1.

Belgium--by tying the Czech and Slovak Republic, 0-0.

Spain--even though it played a man short for 79 minutes, by beating Denmark, 1-0.

Romania--by beating Wales, 2-1.

The day’s biggest upset came when Bulgaria qualified after coming from behind to beat France, 2-1.

The tournament will be without the country that is viewed as the cradle of the sport. England failed to qualify, even as it defeated hapless San Marino, 7-1. England had to win by seven goals and hope for a defeat by the Netherlands, but the English were stunned by a San Marino goal in the first 10 seconds.

But then, all matches involving San Marino have kept statisticians busy. San Marino has served as Group Two’s doormat. The tiny, landlocked country just east of Italy has never won a World Cup match.

France’s loss to Bulgaria capped its spectacular nose-dive after beginning qualifying with five consecutive victories. The French needed only a tie against Israel in Paris to advance a month ago, but lost a 2-1 lead in the last minutes. Israel, which hadn’t won a match in more than a year, won, 3-2.

The French also failed to qualify in 1990, but can take solace knowing they will automatically qualify next time. The 1998 World Cup will be played in France.

The other notable collapse was of Japan’s national team, which controlled the Asian group until the final day. The soccer-crazed nation has established a professional league as a precursor to bidding to host the 2002 World Cup. With the loss, Japan’s bid is in doubt.

Coaches were under tremendous pressure during qualifying, with their job security tied to the team’s record. Four of the six coaches in the Asian group lost their jobs by the end of the two-week tournament. England’s embattled manager, Graham Taylor, will almost surely lose his job after Wednesday, thus satisfying the call of that nation’s tabloids. In the Netherlands, Coach Dick Advocaat’s reward for getting his team into the World Cup is to be replaced by player-favorite Johan Cruyff.

Sports made for strange bedfellows. Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia met in the Asian qualifying tournament. Longtime rivals North Korea, South Korea and Japan made up the rest of the group. Ireland and Northern Ireland met on the final day.

Political turmoil did not prevent athletic endeavor. Haiti compiled a 1-1 record but failed to advance in favor of Bermuda, which squeaked through on the fourth tiebreaking rule. Yugoslavia was briefly in the field, but after United Nations sanctions were applied, FIFA booted the team. Libya was in but withdrew after FIFA ruled that no qualifying games would be played on Libyan soil. Liberia suspended its World Cup qualifying campaign on account of war.

There have been triumphs and tragedy. Bolivia, a nation of 6.3 million, will make its first trip to the World Cup finals since 1950. Greece--coached by a former U.S. national team coach who lives in suburban Virginia--qualified for the first time.

Zambia began qualifying in Africa’s Group B and breezed through the first round. But on April 27 a plane carrying officials and the entire team plunged into the sea off the coast of Gabon. All 18 aboard were killed.

Even as the nation mourned, every expatriated Zambian who had ever kicked a ball in a street game rushed back to their homeland to help rebuild the team and the psyche of a nation. The team of youth players and out-of-retirement veterans, coached by a feisty Scotsman, gained five points in their next three games.

Needing only a tie in its last game, Zambia lost, 1-0, to Morocco.

Odd geographical alignments emerged. Sweden and Norway qualified from surprising Scandinavia, but not Denmark, the European champion. Africa sent Nigeria and Morocco, but also Cameroon, the darlings of the 1990 World Cup. Colombia advanced from powerful South America, but not Uruguay.

World Cup officials monitored the qualifying with interest and at times horror. Europe’s Group Two was one of the most watched, as it contained hooligan-exporting England. With its failure to qualify, the World Cup security concerns are greatly lessened.

“England is always a mixed situation,” said World Cup ’94 chairman Alan Rothenberg, speaking on a conference call from Milan, Italy. “It’s obviously such a great soccer power. And there is such a tight connection between the United States and England. Having them here would have been such a plus. But the attachment of these thugs would have caused us a problem. Of all the teams, that was probably the biggest one (security threat).”

A qualifying game between the English and Dutch at Rotterdam last month produced the most hooligan arrests in history. There were no incidents at either qualifying game involving England or the Netherlands on Wednesday, but a fan was killed in the match between Wales and Romania at Cardiff, Wales, after he was struck by a fireworks rocket at the final whistle.

World Cup Qualifiers

Nations that qualified for the 24-nation World Cup soccer championship in 1994, with date qualified. The World Cup draw will be Dec. 19 at Las Vegas. All years 1993 unless specified: United States (host): July 4, 1988

Germany (def. champ): July 8, 1990

Mexico: May 9

Greece: May 23

Russia: June 3

Colombia: Sept. 5

Bolivia: Sept. 19

Brazil: Sept. 19

Nigeria: Oct. 8

Cameroon: Oct. 10

Morocco: Oct. 10

Norway: Oct. 13

Sweden Oct. 13