Romania miss chances in Germany draw

The delighted Romanian players mob Moldovan

Germany 1-1 Romania
(Liege - Att: 25,000)

Neither side will take much satisfaction from a game that threatened to explode in the first half but peetered out badly after the break.

Romania will probably feel most frustrated by the stalemate, knowing they will rarely have a better chance to beat Germany.

Indeed, German manager Erich Ribbeck will know his side were fortunate to take a share of the spoils after a very patchy performance.

Although the Germans looked far more solid after half-time when Marko Rehmer replaced Thomas Linke - and even better once Lothar Matthaus left the fray on 72 minutes - Romania's Viorel Moldovan still had the best chance of the game to steal the points.

Key moments

4 mins: Moldovan scores from Ilie's pass

17: Moldovan misses easy header

27: Scholl stuns Romania with fine strike

40: Ilie has penalty claim denied

51: Bierhoff header hits post

67: Moldovan double miss

A remarkable double miss after 67 minutes - the second a sliced drive from the edge of the area with what was left of the German cover and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn lying on the floor - was the last real chance created by either side.

Olivier Bierhoff saw a trademark header hit the outside of the post after 51 minutes, and Ziege failed to properly connect with another header minutes later, but that was pretty much it as goalmouth incident was concerned in the second half.

Romania made a dream start when Adrian Ilie took advantage of some careless defending by Linke to put in a slide-rule pass for Moldovan to tap home after four minutes.

Ilie and Moldovan, the former Coventry City striker, continued to find dangerous positions behind the surprisingly uncertain German rearguard, and were well-served by Gheorgi Hagi's intelligent promptings.

Moldovan made immediate impact

On 17 minutes Moldovan was given a chance to stretch Romania's lead when Ilie crossed for him after a clever back-heel from Hagi, but the goal-scorer was unable to keep his header down.

The creaking German defence were left exposed again only a minute later when Hagi's through-ball put Illie in, but goalkeeper Oliver Kahn was quick to snuff out the danger.

While Germany looked like conceding another goal whenever Ilie or Hagi found space on the flanks, their own forwards starting to impose themselves a little more.

And after riding their luck for the best part of half an hour, the inevitable happened. Germany equalised with a goal from Mehmet Scholl.

Scholl: Superb strike

Tidy work down the right by Markus Babbel and Linke provided some space for Scholl to aim and fire home from 25 yards.

With Germany, somewhat fortunately, back in the match, the pace of the game started to slacken.

But then with both sides thinking about half-time, Hagi released Ilie once more.

The lightning fast Valencia man cut inside the last-ditch challenge of Nowotny and appeared to have his standing leg clipped by the German. With Illie and the rest of the Romanian team demanding a penalty, the German defence was able to clear the danger.

Ilie and Hagi, however, continued their protests longer their team mates and were given yellow cards for their trouble.

---

Germany: Kahn, Linke (Rehmer, 46 mins), Nowotny, Babbel, Matthaus (Deisler, 76 mins), Rink, Jeremies, Haessler (Hamann, 72 mins), Ziege, Scholl, Bierhoff. Subs not used: Lehmann, Butt, Bode, Kirsten, Ballack, Wosz, Ramelow, Jancker.

Romania: Stelea, Petrescu (Contra, 68 mins), Ciobotariu, Popescu, Galca, Munteanu, Chivu, Filipescu, Hagi (Mutu, 72 mins), Moldovan (Lupescu, 84 mins), Ilie. Subs not used: Lobont, Prunea, Petre, Rosu, Belodedici, Ganea, Lincar, Hildan.

Referee: K Nielsen (Denmark)