BUL: Hristo Stoichkov (3).

ROM: -.

BUL: Mihailov; Ivanov, Kischischev, Cvetanov; Letchkov (Guentchev, 90), Iankov, Iordanov, BALAKOV; Kostadinov (Borimirov, 32), Stoichkov, Penev (Sirakov, 75).

ROM: Stelea; Petrescu, Belodedici, Selimes, Prodan; Hagi, Popescu (Ilie, 78), Lupescu (Galca, 46), Munteanu; Lacatus (Moldovan, 29), Raducioiu.

REFEREE: Peter Michaelsen (Denmark).

AUDIENCE: 19.107, St. James' Park, Newcastle.

YELLOW CARDS: Kischischev, Cvetanov (Bulgaria); NONE (Romania).

RED CARDS: NONE.

Two different ways of thinking exist in our world - one which claims that a man can't be substituted by any machine, and the second which responds that the machines and the technique can be of a tremendous value as the helpful accessories to a man. This extrapolates to Soccer too, and yesterday the second stream proved its rightfulness - the crucial mistake of a man in black caused Romania to feel robbed, staying now outside of the quarterfinals. Had the technique been there, the dignity (and a lot of money invested in the preparations, not talking about sweat and nerves) of Romania had been saved. [And the bitter irony is that it made justice to Bulgaria, which was robbed by the referee in its first game against Spain].

That happened after 30 minutes of play. Gheorghe Hagi sent a flat corner outside the box, and Dorinel Munteanu shot a terrific bomb from 20 meters. The excellent Borislav Mihailov ("The Keeper Of The Tournament" by now) could do nothing this time, and the ball hit the bar, landed on the ground and went out, cleared to the corner right away. The initial feeling was justified by a replay - the ball landed 30 centimeters BEYOND the goal-line! As with the hand of Tulio a year ago, the whole world saw it but neither the referee nor his linesmen.

But, putting the mistake aside, there was an excellent game, with lots of opportunities for both sides. Hagi and Munteanu threatened the Bulgarian goal time after time, seeing there the wonderful Borislav Mihailov. But above all, it was the day of Hristo Stoichkov - the forward scored a perfect goal and was just marvellous, being near every ball and presenting a constant threat to the net of Bogdan Stelea.

Despite the declarations of Anghel Iordanescu, Bogdan Stelea stayed in Romania's net and conceded the goal after the very first attack; this time, however, it wasn't a bit of his fault, but a masterpiece of the attacker. Getting a ball 40 meters from the net, Stoichkov saw no option for the pass and took the responsibility on himself. He turned around, switched on the jet engines to run away from 2 defenders and to pass the third; finally, it resulted in a flat shot from 14 meters to beat the helpless Stelea. 1:0.

The goal put Romania in a state of shock, but this was the shock of motivation. Raducioiu (6), Hagi (8) and Lacatus (9) wasted the nice opportunities by shooting wide, and the great free kick of Hagi from 25 meters (11) was fisted away superbly by Mihailov. Lupescu (14) was not precise, too, and the shot of Munteanu (20) deflected suddenly from Ivanov, but failed to surprise Mihailov who collected it. Hagi (29) and Raducioiu (43) wanted to get the penalty kick, in vain (this time the referee was right, for a change). And the peak was, of course, the disallowed goal of Munteanu (30), see above.

The Bulgarians weren't idle, too. The free kicks of Stoichkov (25) and Balakov (45) went too high, and on a counterattack, Stoichkov failed to overcome Prodan (33) and earned just a corner. And the best opportunity of the 1st half, besides the goal of Stoichkov and the shot of Munteanu, was also of the Bulgarians. Belodedici tried to deny Letchkov (22), but the ball went high from his touch, and Kostadinov screwed himself between the two defenders to bomb it with a left-foot volley. Had it gone into the frame, Stelea would've done nothing; however, it whistled near his right post and went out.

The ping-pong continued in the 2nd half. The bright scissors pass of Balakov (48) nearly found the head of Stoichkov, but Stelea jumped better to collect it. 58: Hagi misled the defender and shot a curved ball to the far corner at half a height to see the wonderful save of flying Mihailov. The free kick of Hagi (60) was collected by Mihailov. The free kick of Hagi (63) from 30 meters went high, and Prodan headed it away from 3 meters (!) after a free kick performed by Raducioiu (68). On the other side, Stelea got out 30 meters from his net and headed the ball away before Letchkov reached it.

Nesko Sirakov substituted Lubomir Penev (75), and, 4 minutes on the pitch, made a magnificent move to nearly result in a goal. Letchkov found him 40 meters from the net of Stelea, Sirakov stopped the ball and then heeled it back in a fantastic way to Letchkov who rushed forward and stayed in one-to-one with Stelea. "The Goal Pass Of The Year?" No way! Letchkov shot from 16 meters, Stelea's wonderful save followed, and Sirakov was on the rebound to shoot it away from 25 meters.

The rest of the attacks were, how surprising, those of Romania. Mihailov dived incredibly well to parry the dangerous ball by Munteanu (81), and Hagi's free kick from 40 meters (!) failed to find the head of Prodan, but nearly surprised the keeper, who was still able to collect it from under the bar. Prodan tried a scissors kick (90), away. And here it ended. Romania is eliminated, with 1 point robbed from it by referees' mistakes, and Bulgaria is getting now a great chance to enter the quarterfinals.

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