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Ilie goal pushes Romania past Colombia
Posted: Monday June 15, 1998 03:04 PM
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Romania got its World Cup campaign off to a good start with the win (AP) |
LYON, France (AP) -- Adrian Ilie's 15-meter chip shot in
first-half injury time gave Romania a 1-0 victory over Colombia in
their Group G opener Monday.
The Valencia striker outmaneuvered midfielder Maurizio Serna and
defender Everth Palacios and lobbed the ball over advancing
goalkeeper Farid Mondragon.
Colombia nearly tied the game in the 85th minute when
replacement Adolfo Valencia, nicknamed "The Train" stretched
Romanian goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea for a diving save to his right
with his shot from 30 meters.
The Romanian squad, still built around the core of veterans that
played at the 1994 World Cup in the United States, set the pace for
much of the match. In contrast, Colombia struggled to maintain
possession despite occasional flashes of technical excellence.
"We repeated history from four years ago at USA World Cup '94
but with a different score," Anghel Iordanescu said after the
lively game before 44,000 soccer fans, about 7,000 of them from
Colombia. Romania beat Colombia 3-1 in 1994.
"The victory has a great psychological importance for us
because this was the opening game and also because we fielded
several young, less experienced players."
At the start of the second half, Colombia's coach Hernan Dario
Gomez livened up his attack by substituting ineffective striker
Victor Aritsizabal with Valencia.
In the first half, Colombia started briskly, eager to avenge
defeat by Romania at the last World Cup. But its passing was ragged
and easily intercepted by the Romanians, who quickly established
midfield dominance.
Ilie had the first scoring chance on a fast break in the 11th
minute, when he beat three defenders in the box and crossed the
ball to unmarked Viorel Moldovan, who failedto connect from 7
meters.
Five minutes later, Colombian goalkeeper Farid Mondragon
stretched to his right to stop a rasping shot from Dorinel Munteanu
from the edge of the box, then knocked away the rebound hit by
Ilie.
In the 40th minute, Moldovan intercepted a ricochet in the
Colombian box, but his header from 6 meters just missed the right
post.
"In the first period we lacked cohesion and clarity. After the
break we were much more determined but unfortunately we missed all
our scoring opportunities," Gomez told reporters.
Lineups
Romania: Bogdan Stelea; Dan Petrescu, Gheorghe Popescu, Liviu
Ciubotariu; Iulian Filipescu, Dorinel Munteanu, Gheorghe Hagi
(Lucian Marinescu, 76th), Constantin Galca, Gabriel Popescu (Ovidiu
Stinga, 68th); Adrian Ilie, Viorel Moldovan (Radu Niculescu, 85th)
Colombia: Farid Mondragon; WilmerCabrera, Jorge Bermudez,
Everth Palacios, Jose Santa; Maurizio Serna, Harold Lozano, Freddy
Rincon, Carlos Valderrama; Victor Aristizabal (Adolfo Valencia,
46th), Faustino Asprilla (Leider Preciado, 85th).
Referee: Lim Kee Chong, Mauritius.
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