Germany escapes with a draw

LIEGE, BELGIUM, JUNE 13. Germany opened the defence of its European title with an unconvincing 1-1 draw with Romania on Monday. The Germans needed a superb goal from Mehmet Scholl to level the match after Romania had taken the lead in the fifth minute and it will need to improve dramatically if it is to survive group A, also featuring England and Portugal.

After a string of uninspired performances in its build-up to the tournament, the three-times World and European champions again looked short of ideas in midfield and extremely nervous in defence, especially during the first half.

Scholl, one of few German players to emerge from the match with credit, combined well with Brazilian-born Paulo Rink before swerving home a left-foot drive from outside the penalty area in the 28th minute.

Romania caught the German defence off-guard in the fifth minute, Adrian Ilie racing down the left wing and exploiting a mistake from Thomas Linke to send a perfect cross from which striker Viorel Moldovan fired home from close range.

In a tepid, mistake-ridden second half, the Romanians came close to their first victory at European championship finals when German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn failed to clear the ball properly in the 68th minute.

It came to Moldovan, who had the goal at his mercy. But his first shot was blocked and he blasted his second wide. Thomas Haessler won his 100th cap from Germany but showed little in midfield. Veteran libero Lothar Matthaeus, extending his world record 148 caps, also looked below par and was caught out of position repeatedly in a thrilling first half. Both were substituted in the second half.

Romania put up a spirited performance inspired by its captain Georghe Hagi. Hagi and his men dominated the game early on, threatening in the 18th minute when a Moldovan header from a cross by Ilie flew just over the German crossbar after a break by Hagi.

The 35-year-old showed his class remained intact again one minute later with a through ball which Kahn punched away from the edge of his box under pressure from Chelsea defender Dan Petrescu.

Germany did not create a real opportunity until the 24th minute, when a close range header by captain Oliver Bierhoff from a Scholl corner forced Romanian goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea to a spectacular one-handed save.

The Romanians shouted for a penalty after Ilie appeared to be brought down in the box by Germany defender Jens Nowotny five minutes from the interval.

Hagi and Ilie were both booked for protesting to Danish referee Kim Milton Nielsen after the incident.

Romania came back for more in the second half, Moldovan racing past substitute Marko Rehmer in the 49th minute to shoot against Kahn's leg for a corner.

Germany's best chance in the second half came two minutes later with a Bierhoff header from a Scholl cross which scraped the outside of Romania's left post.

- Reuters

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : How Denizli played into the hands of Italy
Next     : Santos, Barreto combine gives Bagan a clean start