22 June 1998, Stade Municipal, Toulouse. Romania 2–1 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A Monday night in Toulouse, thirty-three thousand in, and a sea of St George that made the Municipal look like a home game until the last minute took the home away. ITV had the pictures. The Romanians were a small block behind one goal. Glenn Hoddle had beaten Tunisia in Marseille and filed Romania under the next step, a group game a favourite is owed after an opening win. Michael Owen was eighteen, a seventh cap, still the boy on the bench behind Teddy Sheringham. Alan Shearer had the armband. Gheorghe Hagi had the rest: thirty-three, a hundred and twelve caps, the man the English week still treated as a highlight reel rather than a problem. England had not beaten Romania since 1980. Six meetings, no wins. Hoddle would say afterwards that they should have punished them more, that he was disappointed by the defeat but not the performance. Then he said the other thing. The two goals we gave away were schoolboy stuff. The defending was poor.
Toulouse in June is a Municipal that does not care what you promised after Marseille. England had come as the side that had opened with a win and expected the next one to follow. Romania had come as the side they had never beaten in six goes, and as the side Hagi still ran. The English end filled the ground and treated that as a plan. The Romanian block stayed small and waited. Group D still had Colombia left. A point here still looked like a life. A last-minute loss here, and the draw would change temperature before anyone had packed for Lens.
They kicked off anyway.
It was even for forty-five minutes, which is the part Hoddle wanted kept. Hagi was booked early. Paul Scholes had one cleared off the line by Gheorghe Popescu. Sheringham hooked wide. Hagi pulled the strings and the English midfield, Ince and Batty, treated that as a job they were equal to. Then Ince went down stretching and Hoddle had to send David Beckham on after half an hour, which is not how you planned a World Cup group game and is how you play one. Half-time nil-nil. The rooms at home had not yet changed their plans for Colombia.
The second half is the schoolboy stuff. A throw-in on the right, nothing, twenty yards from the byline. Hagi took it quickly, barely glanced, flicked it over Sol Campbell. Viorel Moldovan, faster than Tony Adams, chested it and hit a rising shot past David Seaman's right hand. Forty-seven minutes, or forty-eight, depending on whose watch you trust. One-nil, and the Independent would later say one touch of class is worth ten gallons of sweat. England spent the next half-hour looking like a side that had been told it was going to punish someone. Hoddle sent Owen on for Sheringham with a quarter of an hour left. Shearer crossed, there was a scramble, and Owen, from close range, rifled in the equaliser. Eighty-three minutes. One-one. The English end did the thing of sitting back as if the point were already a passage. Then Dan Petrescu, Chelsea teammate of Graeme Le Saux, got to a ball Le Saux did not. The last man had been stunned by an arm. The ball came through Seaman's legs. Ninetieth minute. The Guardian, in the morning, did not look for a nuance. Petrescu shatters England. The Independent had England's hearts are broken. Ladbrokes lengthened them from 8–1 to 33–1, which is a bookmaker's way of writing the same headline. There was still time for Owen to hit a post from twenty yards. He was eighteen. He said later that by then he felt he could beat the world. The world had already gone through Petrescu's shin.
Hoddle told them in the dressing room they would get nowhere if they defended like schoolboys. He was not wrong. They would beat Colombia in Lens and go through, and then they would meet Argentina in Saint-Étienne, and that night is already filed. This is the Monday that put them in that half of the draw. This is the throw-in, and the last-minute teammate, and the boy hitting the post after the night had gone.
Hagi had the flick and the booking and the class. Moldovan had the first, a Coventry striker, the first recorded case, someone later wrote, of a foreign import damaging the England team from inside the league. Petrescu had the second and the Chelsea reunion. Owen had the equaliser and the post and the feeling. Seaman had the legs. Le Saux had the challenge he will not get back. Adams and Campbell had the two balls they did not deal with. Shearer had the cross. Hoddle had schoolboy stuff, and the bad feeling he would later say had gnawed at him from the morning, and a group that was suddenly a draw with Colombia or nothing.
They said punish them. They said disappointed by the defeat, not the performance. They said schoolboy stuff. They said a home game in Toulouse. They got the point back through a boy who felt he could beat the world. Then they gave it to a man they shared a dressing room with at Stamford Bridge, through the legs of the keeper who had not conceded two for England since Rotterdam. Hoddle had no sympathy for the defence. At this level, he said, if you defend like that you are going to get punished. They had been punished. The next step was already a different step.
The film is up. FIFA kept the ten minutes: the throw, Moldovan's rise, Owen from close in, Petrescu through the legs. Do not review it. Watch the schoolboys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVWRgDT57ng
Related reading
- A draw would have done — Charleroi 2000, Romania again, another night a point would have been enough
- One stupid boy — Saint-Étienne 1998, the Argentina night this Monday put them into
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at /shop.
FAQ
What was the score when Romania beat England at World Cup 1998?
Romania 2–1 England, on 22 June 1998 at Stade Municipal, Toulouse. Moldovan and Petrescu scored; Owen equalised late.
Why “Schoolboy stuff”?
Glenn Hoddle’s line after the defeat — the two goals given away were schoolboy stuff; the defending was poor.
Did England still go through?
Yes. They beat Colombia in Lens and reached the last sixteen, where Argentina waited. This Monday changed the half of the draw.