The qualifying campaign for the 1992 European Championships saw Wales drawn alongside Luxembourg, Belgium and the now unified Germany and started positively as they defeated Belgium in October 1990 in their opening match. Wales were given a scare against Luxembourg when Clayton Blackmore was sent off in the opening 15 minutes but they were able to secure a narrow victory through Rush's second goal of the campaign. A 1–1 draw with Belgium left Wales in direct competition with Germany to be group winners ahead of consecutive games against the pair. In preparation, Wales organised friendlies against Iceland and Poland. Yorath's assistant Peter Shreeves was placed in charge for the first match to allow Yorath to watch Germany in preparation for their meetings. Iceland were beaten 1–0 while the match against Poland ended in a goalless draw. Germany were unbeaten in 16 matches prior to the first meeting between the two sides at the National Stadium. The ground was sold out for the game, which turned in favour of Wales when Germany were reduced to ten men as Thomas Berthold was dismissed after an altercation with Kevin Ratcliffe. Wales capitalised as Rush scored his third goal in qualifying and, despite pressure from the Germans late in the game, Wales held out to win. The win led the FAW to appoint Yorath on a full-time basis, as he gave up his club commitments for the role.