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Arrivederci, Hagi Italy downs Romania 2-0 to earn semifinal berth
Posted: Saturday June 24, 2000 06:50 PM
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Francesco Totti and Filippo Inzaghi fired Italy into the semifinal of Euro 2000 in a 2-0 victory over Romania on Saturday while Gheorghe Hagi's career came to a shameful end with a second-half expulsion. Dino Zoff's Italian team, hardly rated as title contenders before the tournament, has now won four championship games in a row. It faces either Netherlands or Yugoslavia in Amsterdam on Thursday for a place in the final for the first time since 1968. Zoff said he was "moderately satisfied" with his team's performance, but was disappointed with their play after Hagi was expelled. "Some thought reaching the quarterfinals was impossible, and we're happy with what we've accomplished," Zoff said. "But we have to play much better." Totti fired the Italians ahead in the 33rd minute and Inzaghi, who also hit the post near the end, made up for several previous Euro 2000 misses by hitting the second just before half time. Each blew kisses to their parents in the crowd after their goals.
"This team has shown real character and a great will to win," Totti said. The Romanians, who made it to the last eight after a dramatic 3-2 win over England in the group matches, tried to hit back but lost Hagi in the 60th minute when he was expelled for his second yellow card. The 35-year-old star, who has been his country's star performer for a decade and had already come out of retirement once, was shown the red card for diving to try and get a penalty. Portuguese referee Vitor Manuel Melo Pereira had shown him a yellow card only minutes earlier for a bad foul that knocked Italian midfielder Antonio Conte out of the game. Hagi, who missed the previous game against England because he had received two yellow cards in the tournament, was furious he had been sent off in what looked like it would be his final and 125th game in Romanian colors. He covered his face in despair as he eventually left the field. AS Roma's Totti, chosen for the starting lineup to Juventus star Alessandro Del Piero, fired his second goal of the competition in the 33rd minute to liven up a game that was doing little to excite the fans at the King Baudouin stadium. The second goal came two minutes from the break when Inzaghi took a deep pass and was left to run clear and shoot past keeper Bogdan Stelea for his second of the campaign. Totti also missed another chance while Inzaghi was guilty of a glaring miss early in the game. Hagi hit the post at the other end. With team captain Gheorghe Popescu out of the competition with a ruptured calf muscle and Cosmin Contra, Dan Petrescu and Adrian Ilie all suspended the Romaians, who snatched a quarterfinal place thanks to a late penalty in the win over England, had a patched-up team. "We did not field our best 11," said Romanian coach Emerich Jenei. "Italy won because they scored when they had opportunities." But Romania had veteran midfield general Hagi back on the team after the 35-year-old had been forced to sit out the victory over the English through suspension. The Italians should have gone ahead in the seventh minute when Totti slipped a pass in to Inzaghi from the left. But the Juve striker fired wide once again from close range under pressure from a tackle by Constantin Galca. Rather than try and weave their way through Italy's well-organized defense, the Romanians tried their luck from long range but distance shots from Hagi, Adrian Mutu flew well over Francesco Toldo's goal. The Italians engineered another chance in the 28th minute when Inzaghi's well flighted cross from the right found Stefano Fiore in front of goal but the sliding Udinese midfielder mis-hit the shot high in the air instead of into the back of the net. The Romanians finally got a shot on target in the 32nd minute when Florentin Petre powered in a low, deflected drive from the edge of the area but it was well smothered by Toldo. As if fired up by that first real Romanian scare, Italy took the lead a minute later when the Romanians failed to completely clear a corner from the left. With the defense racing out to try and catch the Italians offside, Fiore fed a lobbed pass through to the unmarked Totti who chested it down and drove the ball past Stelea. Hagi responded with a break down the right to meet a cross-field ball from deep and, although he beat the advancing Toldo, his lob struck the left hand post and bounced clear. At the other end, Totti prodded the ball wide of the post as Italy pressed for another goal and it came two minutes before the break. Again the Romanian defense was slow to react when Demetrio Albertini volleyed a pass through the middle and Inzaghi charged clear to fire past Stelea and make it 2-0. Gianluca Pessotto started the second half as replacement for Italian captain Paolo Maldini who was clearly feeling an injury and Italy also lost Conte, victim of Hagi's crunching tackle by Hagi in the 62nd minute. Pessotto rescued the Italians with a brilliant blocking tackle to foil Romanian substitute Ioan Ganea in front of goal while Inzaghi almost grabbed a third when he took another pass from Albertini but shot against the post. Del Piero came in with less than 20 minutes to go, replacing Totti. The Azzurri crowd erupted, clearly directing their applause at the substitute rather than the winning goalscorer. Effective in his earlier appearances, including knocking in the winning goal agaist Sweden on Monday, Del Piero got few opportunities against Romania with Italy protecting their late-game lead. After the game, Hagi blasted the referee for showing him the red card. "You could see from an airplane that it was a penalty," he told reporters. "The Italian defender deserved a red, not me a yellow." But "what's important is that Romania demonstrated that they are a good team in this competition and that we have talented players, good young players who have a future," he said. Asked if it was his last game for Romania, Hagi shrugged his shoulders and left the interview area. Lineups: Italy - Francesco Toldo; Alessandro Nesta, Mark Iuiliano, Fabio Cannavaro, Paolo Maldini (sub: Gianluca Pessotto 46th); Demetrio Albertini, Antonio Conte (Luigi Di Biagio 56th), Gianluca Zambrotta, Stefano Fiore; Francesco Totti (Alessandro Del Piero 75th), Filippo Inzaghi. Romania - Bogdan Stelea; Liviu Ciobatriu, Iulian Filipescu, Miodrag Belodedici, Cristian Chivu; Constantin Galca (Ioan Lupescu 68th), Dorinel Munteanu, Florentin Petre, Gheorghe Hagi; Viorel Moldovan (Ioan Ganea 54th), Adrian Mutu. Referee - Vitor Manuel Melo Pereira, Portugal.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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