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 Hagi and Figo - two central figures |  Costinha?? |  Mass celebrations amongst the |
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I give you mainly pictures!! I cannot, quite honestly, think of an awful lot to say about this game. It was not sizzling sexy football at its best. Kinda tame actually. Throughout the 1st half, Portugal flaunted their latent sexiness before us in a teasing manner, only to disappoint when it came to the final flourish. Romania though defended doggedly and didn't just stand and admire the silky skills of the Portuguese, as the English had done, but rather said to them, "Pah, you think that's pretty footwork; cop this!" and frustrated them at every turn. Whatever though seized the mind of the Portugal coach early in the 2nd half, when he substituted Nuno Gomez and Jaoa Pinto (translates into "John Chicken"!!) with Sergio Conceicaio and Sa Pinto, I can only guess at. Nothing wrong with Conceicaio - an excellent player, and I don't understand why he hasn't been starting the games - but Sa Pinto is something else! Wowsers he wuz rubbish! ("Lemon Chicken"?!? :)) I had to smile too, when I read the coach's comments on the teletext "it was all planned, we just had to be patient" or words of similar effect. What was all planned??? Four minutes extra time from nowhere; Figo taking an age to take the free-kick on 94minutes and counting; another of the subs, Costinha, heading in the goal with his first touch?!?! Extraordinary!!!!! WHOOPEE though; the Portuguese are in the quarter-finals!! Hopefully, the Romanians will join them! | ||
Teams and things
Romania: Stelea, Petrescu (Petre 64), Filipescu, Galca, Popescu, Munteanu, Moldovan (Ganea 69), Hagi, Ilie (Rosu 78), Chivu, Contra.
Subs Not Used: Lobont, Prunea, Ciobotariu, Mutu, Lupescu, Belodedici, Hildan, Lincar.
Booked: Hagi, Petrescu, Contra.
Portugal: Baia, Costa, Vidigal, Couto, Figo, Pinto (Conceicao 56), Rui Costa (Costinha 87), Dimas, Bento, Secretario, Gomes (Sa Pinto 56).
Subs Not Used: Espinha, Quim, Jorge, Sousa, Xavier, Beto, Capucho, Pauleta.
Booked: Figo.
Goals: Costinha 90 Referee: Gilles Veissiere (France).
Attendance: 22,000
