Romania’s Ilie Snakes Through Defense

He is quick and his shot is deadly.

Which is why Romanian striker Adrian Ilie is known as “The Cobra” by teammates and fans at his Spanish club team, Valencia.

And on Monday afternoon in Lyon, the 24-year-old forward from Craiova showed the world in general and Colombia in particular just why he should be feared.

Romania and Colombia were already deep into injury time at the end of the first half when Ilie struck. He danced past one defender, evaded the lunging two-footed tackle of another and then sent a shot crashing into the roof of the net.

It turned out to be the only goal Romania needed in a 1-0 victory over the South Americans, a victory that helped it share first place in its group with England, a 2-0 winner over Tunisia earlier in the day.

Ilie might well have had more goals. Leaving Romania’s 1990 and 1994 World Cup star Gheorghe Hagi in the shade, he virtually took over the game, or at least Romania’s offense.

The match was not more than a minute or two old when he forced Colombian goalkeeper Farid Mondragon into an exceptional diving save with a rocket-like shot.

The ball rebounded to the onrushing Viorel Moldovan, but Mondragon somehow got up and managed to block his shot too.

There was nothing the keeper could do about Ilie’s effort on the stroke of halftime, however.

Hagi, neither as sharp nor as dangerous as he was four years ago when he led Romania into the quarterfinals, started the move with a neat backheel pass to Ilie.

That caught the Colombian defenders by surprise, and Ilie compounded their confusion when he sprinted into the box, ignoring defender Everth Palacios’ desperate lunge, and hit a shot that sailed into the roof of the net from a sharp angle.

Romania deserved the lead, but it failed to build on its advantage in the second half.

In part, that was due to Colombia coming out of its defensive shell and trying to salvage at least a tie. Under Coach Hernan Dario Gomez, the South Americans are playing a far more conservative game than they did in 1994. Gomez believes the team was overconfident then and paid the price with a first-round exit in the United States.

The same fate might be in store in France, but Gomez is not giving up hope. Not this early at least.

“With a bit of luck, things might have been different,” he said. “We have lost this game, but we have still got to play Tunisia and England and we will do everything we can to win those two games.”

By sending Adolfo Valencia into the game in the second half to help Faustino Asprilla up front, Gomez almost grabbed a tie.

With about six minutes left in the match, Valencia sprinted to reach a pass from Freddy Rincon and fired a shot that Romanian goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea did well to save.

Like Ilie, Valencia has a nickname. He is called “The Train,” because of his size and powerful running. But as Hagi would be happy to tell you, a Cobra beats a Train every time.

Then again, perhaps Hagi wouldn’t be making such jokes. This World Cup is serious business, after all.

“The important thing is that we won,” Hagi said. “Nothing else matters.”