Romania Scores in 90th Minute to Shock England
One sure way to curb the violence being perpetrated by English hooligans at the World Cup: Knock their team out of the tournament.
Romania’s Dan Petrescu, striking a blow for his country as well as the common good of the French citizenry, took the first step toward eradicating the English goon menace with a shocking goal in the 90th minute Monday, giving Romania a 2-1 victory over England in Toulouse.
As expected, the game was marred by hooligan thuggery, as a gang of England supporters attacked an English journalist on the way to the match, threw him to the ground and broke his collarbone.
Andrew Woodcock, a sportswriter for the English Press Assn., was hospitalized after running into a group of hooligans, who accused him of giving England soccer fans a bad name and jumped him.
“I was just about to go into the ground and everything seemed quiet when a bunch of England lads came up to me, accused me of being a journalist and of causing trouble and attacked me,” Woodcock told Agence France-Presse.
“They threw my bag into the river and then threw me to the ground. I hit a concrete bollard and broke me collarbone. Another England fan managed to drag me away to safety as there were about five of them around me, shouting at me.”
This was before the game, before the English defense yielded “two terrible goals,” in the words of England Coach Glenn Hoddle--the second coming in the 90th minute, seven minutes after reserve Michael Owen had scored a dramatic equalizer for England.
England, the group favorite, fell behind Romania just after halftime when mistakes by English defenders Sol Campbell and Tony Adams paved the way for Viorel Moldovan’s 13th international goal.
Campbell, marking Romanian playmaker Gheorge Hagi, mistimed a charge on a Romania throw-in and allowed the ball to bounce to Hagi, who flicked the ball over Campbell and into the England penalty area.
The quickness of the cross caught central defender Adams off-guard and he was outrun to the ball by Moldovan, who raced in and knocked a shot past goalkeeper David Seaman in the 47th minute.
The goal was especially sweet for Moldovan, whose play for Coventry City in the English Premier League last season had been heavily criticized. One British newspaper recently called the $5.2 million spent by Coventry to sign Moldovan as “one of the five biggest wastes in English football this season.”
England squandered a prime opportunity to equalize in the 64th minute when midfielder Darren Anderton, camped out alone inches from the right post, somehow pushed his shot wide across an open goal mouth.
Still searching for the tying goal, Hoddle brought on Owen, the much-touted 18-year-old Liverpool striker, to try to enliven the England attack in the 73rd minute.
Owen needed only six minutes to deliver. England striker Alan Shearer broke free down the right wing and centered the ball back into the Romanian area, where Paul Scholes deflected the ball down for Owen. Sliding hard to his right, Owen beat two defenders to the ball, whipping it into the net past goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea.
Both sides seemed amenable to settling for a draw, but with the final seconds of regulation time ticking away, Romania looped a pass into the England penalty area. Again, a Romanian who plays professionally in England would burn the English defense.
In fact, Petrescu embarrassed his own teammate from the London club Chelsea when he outwrestled Graeme Le Saux for the ball, squirmed loose inside the six-yard box and slid the ball between the legs of the onrushing Seaman.
It marked the first time England had allowed more than one goal in a match with Seaman as goalkeeper since October 1993.
“To have scored in the last minute is wonderful,” Petrescu said. “People back home said we were old and finished, and the critics hurt us a lot. But if we keep playing like we did tonight, I think we could win a few more matches.”
Hoddle angrily attributed both Romanian goals to “schoolboy defending. We’ve really given two sloppy goals away when I felt [Romania] didn’t really create an out-and-out chance.
“I felt we might be the team to go on and punish them, but we have given two terrible goals away, defensively dreadful. If you defense like that, then at this level, you’re going to be punished.”
Romania, 2-0, leads Group G and has clinched a berth in the second round. England and Colombia, both 1-1, play for the other second-round spot Friday in Lens.
