Terry Venables sorrow in an otherwise illustrious coaching career
On November 25, 2023 former England football national coach Terry Venables took his final breath at age of 80 after long illness. He has coached England and Australia national teams, Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, Barcelona, Tottenham, Leeds United in his illustrious career spanned over three decades. Loosing to Steaua București in 1986 European cup final in penalty shoot-out with FC Barcelona, loosing to Germany in Euro '96 with England hosted by England, failure to qualify for 1998 world cup with Australian national team were near misses for Terry. He has described failure for qualification with Australia as his saddest moment in his career.
Australia blew away an aggregate lead of 3-1 in the final 15 minutes in the second leg of intercontinental playoff in Melbourne. They had numerous chances to extend their lead of 2-0. In a late surge inspired by Khodadad Azizi, Iran scored two quick goals in 76th and 80th minute and finished game with a scoreline of 2-2 and aggregate score of 3-3. Iran qualified on away goals for 1998 France world cup. It was a wait of nearly 24 years for Australia to qualify for a world cup(last played in 1974). They had to wait till 2006 world cup to qualify and from then till 2022 world cup, they have not missed any world cup.
RIP Terry.