World Cup 90

Romania qualified after 20 years at the most important international football competition. The national team got their tickets for Italy after a decisive match against Denmark which ended 3-1 for Romania (two goals scored by Gabi Balint and one by Ioan Ovidiu Sabu) even though the opponents were favorites. We have been drawn in the so called ,,group of death with: Cameroon, Soviet Union (their last World Cup), and the trophy holders Maradonas Argentina. It was a team based on the old and new generation of footballers from our domestic league. Tricolorii defeated in the opening match of the group the USSR were Steaua Bucharest striker Marius Lctu scored both goals of the match ending 2-0, but not everyone knows that the penalty kick scored by Lctu was incorrectly awarded by the referee, because the handball was made outside of the box. We lost the second game of the group against Cameroon after Roger Milla scored the double in the last minutes of the game and for Romania scored Gabi Balint ending it 2-1. The last game of the group was decisive for our players. RomaniaArgentina was an interesting but not very entertaining game even though on the pitch were Maradona and Hagi. The argentinians opened the score in the 63rd minute after a corner from which Monzon scored only to see Gabi Balint after 5 minutes making it 1-1 after a lucky header. Therefore we were through to the next round were we faced the Republic of Ireland. It was a match dominated by Romania from the beginning, Hagi, Andone, Rednic and Balint testing on many occasions the opponent goalkeeper. But we couldnt avoid elimination which occurred after a penalty shootout were the only player that missed was Romanias Daniel Timofte.

World Cup 98
It was the third consecutive appearance at the World Cup for our national team. Even though it was our last appearance at a World Cup until today, it was a memorable one. Our team qualified for France after being the most successful European nation ending their group with 28 points with 9 wins and only 1 draw against our old enemies Republic of Ireland, 37 goals scored and only 4 allowed , this being our best ever performance in qualifiers. Alongside England, Tunisia and 1994 opponents Colombia, Romania ended 1st place in Group G with 7 out of 9 possible points. Our opponents in the first match of the group were Colombia just like in USA, only the teams and the score were different. So the clash between Hagi and Valderrama ended 1-0 for Romania on Stade Gerland Stadium in Lyon after a beautiful goal scored by Valencias striker Adrian Ilie right before the end of the first half. A historical game came next for the Romanian supporters in Toulouse where our players faced favorites England. So after a boring first half, Romania opened the score in the 47th minute after an excellent crafted cross from Gheorghe Hagi for striker Viorel Moldovan who finished with a half volley. Despite a great performance Romania saw themselves equalized by Michael Owen in the 79th minute after an error made in defence by Liviu Ciubotariu. Everybody thought that this will be the final score but it was ironically Chelseas defender Dan Petrescu who had the last word and closed the table at 2-1 in the 90th minute.
The last match against Tunisia wasnt all about football. Because Romania qualified after the first two matches a bet had to be respected by the players and the staff, without any knowledge in the country. Every single player had to dye their hair blonde and our manager Anghel Iordnescu had to shave bald. It ended 1-1 our goal being scored by Viorel Moldovan but we were already through to the next round. Our last match was played against Croatia in the Round of 16 and we were controversialy eliminated after a penalty kick scored by Davor Suker.

UEFA EURO 2000

To qualify for this final tournament Romania had to go through the first time in the group without captain Gheorghe Hagi. At first the national team lead by coach Victor Piurc began very good the group with 2 consecutive wins, one of them being against Luis Figos Portugal. But after this two games our situation in the group was getting worse. For the first time Romania was facing a very difficult situation. So changes were made. Piurc was sacked and Emerich Ienei was hired as the new coach. But the biggest change was made when all the Romanians supporters convinced Hagi to comeback at our team. Because of that our team qualified from the top spot for Euro in Belgium and Netherlands. We were handed the most difficult group in the tournament playing against Germany, England and Portugal. In the first match managed to draw against Germany who were considered to be favorites for winning the Cup. We opened the score with Viorel Moldovan in the 5th minute but we have been equalized in the 28th minute by Mehmet Scholl ending 1-1. In the second game we lost in one of the most unluckiest matches ever played by our team against Portugal. With Gheorghe Hagi and Gheorghe Popescu in great form Romania dominated Portugal only to lose the game in the 94th minute, goal scored by Costinha from AS Monaco. We had to win our last game of the group to manage to get through to the next round, and it was England who stood in our face again just like in 1998. Romania had a great start of the game and the first goal was scored in the 22nd minute by debutant Cristian Chivu from Ajax Amsterdam. England needed only a draw against us but they clearly wanted a win, so they scored in only 4 minutes two goals from a penalty kick Alan Shearer and Michael Owen in the 45th minute. The second half started perfectly for Romania after keeper Nigel Martyn made a mistake, Dorinel Munteanu scored a beautiful goal from long range in the 48th minute. Then England came back and dominated the match, but in the 88th minute Phil Neville conceded a penalty after tackling Viorel

Moldovan. Ionel Ganea had the very hard mission to take it from the spot and did it, making it 3-2 and we qualified in the Quarter Finals. Here we faced a team that would become the runner-up of the tournament, Italy. It was a good game for our players but in the 33rd minute Francesco Totti opened the score for Italy making it 1-0. After only 5 minutes Gheorghe Hagi took an incredible curled shot that blasted the post narrowly missing the equalizer. All our hopes were shattered by Fillipo Inzaghi in the 43rd minute the score being now 2-0. But the most shocking moment came in the 60th minute of the game. Gheorghe Hagi fell into the penalty box being fouled by Gianluca Zambrotta, but the referee considered that our captain dived on purpose. Therfore our legend was sent off in his last match of his career and Romania was eliminated.

World Cup 1994

The American Dream
The most successful ever World Cup for the Romanian National Team took place in the USA. We qualified for the tournament after winning our continental group of which we were not sure until our last game with Wales. We were drawn into the group in which took part: The host of the World Cup the USA, Switzerland and Peles favorites to win the tournament Valderramas Colombia.