Wales played their first competitive fixture for a year when they drew 1–1 with Finland to begin their qualifying campaign for the 1988 European Championships. A further draw with the Soviet Union and a win over Finland in the reverse fixture kept Wales' hopes of qualifying alive. The team also earned a late draw against Czechoslovakia, Rush equalising late in a game that Wales had struggled to make an impact in. Wales' campaign continued with consecutive fixtures against Denmark, winning the first match 1–0 at the Ninian Park. The second match ended with the same scoreline, but this time in favour of the Danes. England was furious with the winning goal, commenting "we were not beaten by Denmark, we were beaten by the referee. The player was four yards offside". The result left Wales needing to beat Czechoslovakia to qualify. The FAW were incensed ahead of the game when the FA postponed matches featuring English players but refused to do the same for Welsh players. As a result, Wales initially travelled to Prague with only ten fit players. Wales adopted an attacking approach to the match and had an early attempt cleared off the line but the Czechs went on to win 2–0.