WORLD CUP USA ’94 / ROUND OF 16 : Runnin’ Romania Stops Argentina : Soccer: Hagi makes up for absence of Maradona, orchestrating a fast-breaking 3-2 victory at the Rose Bowl.
There were more fast breaks than have been seen in a game in Southern California since Magic Johnson presided over Showtime, and, just as occurred so often in those days, the guys in the gold won.
They were the Runnin’ Romanians, whose 3-2 victory at the Rose Bowl on Sunday in the World Cup’s second round propelled them into the quarterfinals for the first time and eliminated traditional power Argentina, the 1978 and ’86 champion and the ’90 runner-up.
Seats sold numbered 90,469, but many among the crowd never used them. They were kept on their feet by 120 yards of coast-to-coast soccer. One spectator was Diego Maradona, the Argentine playmaker who was hired as a commentator by one of his home country’s television networks after being banished from the tournament last week for using banned stimulants.
In his absence, much of the brilliance from the field emanated from the left foot of Romania’s Gheorghe Hagi, who, for reasons obvious to anyone who has seen him play in this World Cup, is known as the “Maradona of the Carpathians.”
Entering the game with two goals and two assists, he had one of each Sunday, and, equally as important, his mastery of the midfield enabled Romania to mount counterattack upon counterattack while still committing most of its players to the defense. It takes a special player to do that, and he is one.
Argentina might have one in the making in Arnaldo Ortega, a 20-year-old forward who filled in for injured striker Claudio Caniggia for the final 65 minutes of Thursday’s 2-0 loss to Bulgaria, but either was appointed--or appointed himself--to assume Maradona’s duties in this game.
With his nimble runs through the defense and his precise passes, he revived an Argentine offense that went flat against Bulgaria. He, however, was never able to make the pass, the one that the fans who chanted “Diego, Diego, Diego” for long periods before, during and after the game no doubt are sure Maradona would have made.
Ortega came too close on several occasions for the Romanians’ comfort. When it was over, relieved Romanian Coach Anghel Iordanescu described the back-and-forth nature of the game as going from “agony to ecstasy.”
In ecstasy at the end, Iordanescu said it was the greatest day for Romanians since the Communist dictatorship was overthrown in 1989. It was their greatest day ever in soccer, but, if the team continues to play the way it did against Argentina, this achievement could be surpassed as soon as next Saturday, when Romania plays Sweden in the quarterfinals at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto.
Argentina is going home, a fate upon which Coach Alfio Basile chose not to dwell. Agreeing to answer only two questions in the post-game news conference, he said he was proud that, even in defeat, his team maintained its dignity.
Both teams were disadvantaged at the start because of the absence of star strikers, Caniggia because of injuries to the big toe on his left foot and a hamstring and Romania’s Florin Raducioiu because of a one-game suspension resulting from his two yellow cards in the first round.
When the starting lineups were announced, revealing that Romania would employ only one forward and six defenders, it seemed as if Iordanescu’s strategy was to play for a scoreless tie and let the game be decided by penalty kicks at the end of overtime.
It was evident from the beginning, however, that the Romanians planned nothing of the sort. Both teams came out firing, and Romania connected first, on a perfectly placed free kick into the top right corner of the net by forward Ilie Dumitrescu in the 11th minute.
Was it time for Romania to withdraw into its defensive shell, as it did seven days earlier at the Rose Bowl after scoring the first goal only 17 minutes into what turned out to be a 1-0, Group A clinching victory over the United States?
Perhaps. But it was not possible because Argentina equalized five minutes later after defender Daniel Prodan fouled forward Gabriel Batistuta in the penalty area. Batistuta converted the penalty kick for his fourth goal of the tournament.
Only two minutes later, Dumitrescu scored his second goal after receiving a splendid through pass inside the penalty area from Hagi. Hagi’s favorite target might be Raducioiu, but Dumitrescu obviously will do.
Even though neither team scored, the next 15 minutes provided some of the most exciting moments of the World Cup. Argentina attacked and Romania countered, until both practically collapsed from exhaustion and smog so thick that the San Gabriel Mountains in the background were only a rumor.
The teams came out in the second half and started all over, the Argentines needing only 20 seconds to fire their first shot and 1:20 for their second.
Then came the moment they will complain about for years. In the 54th minute, Batistuta, penetrating Romania’s defense, was sent sprawling and landed inside the penalty area. Sure that he would be allowed to take another penalty kick, he instead was awarded a free kick just outside the area.
It produced nothing but a sustained funk for the Argentines, which deepened when Romania increased its lead to 3-1 four minutes later. On a three on two break, the unmarked man was Hagi, who placed a shot into the net from the right edge of the penalty area.
Argentina eventually snapped out of it, scoring again in the 75th minute after Romania’s goalkeeper, Florin Prunea, failed to smother a 30-yard blast from Fernando Caceres. Forward Abel Balbo scored easily on the rebound.
