GROUP G / Romania vs. England

SITE: Toulouse

TIME: Noon TV: ESPN, Channel 34 RADIO: KWKW (1330, Spanish)

* ABOUT ENGLAND: All but lost amid the frenzy over hooliganism was that the English team, so troubled during the month leading up to the World Cup, put together its best all-around performance of 1998 in a 2-0 victory over Tunisia last weekend. The defense was resilient, the midfield worked hard, Alan Shearer scored on a header. This is how it usually goes for the English when thing s are going right. Paul Scholes, the midfield replacement for deposed Paul Gascoigne, must show he can cope with the inevitable English media overkill.

* ABOUT ROMANIA: No seeded team is less regarded than Romania, which went undefeated in qualifying, yet has always been unofficially considered the No. 2 team in this group. Romania did what it had to do in a 1-0 victory over a disorganized Colombia squad--nothing flashy, just enough. Adrian Ilie, scorer of the game’s only goal, believes Romania will beat England. “Romania is now a perfect mixture of experience from our older players and enthusiasm from our younger ones,” he says. “Even if the English players are physically stronger than us, we have technical resources and tactical solutions to beat them. . . . England are not up to playing against highly technical teams.”

* OUTLOOK: Ilie is only a 24-year-old kid; what does he know? England, 1-0.