Oh my, what a match between Italy and Romania! The first match was all open-ended stuff. The Italians were trying to use their big man Luca Toni for headers while the Romanians were countering quite quickly and often. The Romanians also used set pieces well but at the end of the first half all I could say was Lobont and Buffon. The two keepers came up huge time and time again. But we were going to have to wait until the second half to see how this one turned out.
The second half was more of the same pretty much. The Italians continued to look for Luca Toni in the box while the Romanians were looking at Mutu on the counter. The Romanians continued to play great defence and fought as hard as any team I've seen in the tourney. Finally, they capitilized. They earned a defensive free-kick and they played a long, long switch down the pitch that looked to be intercepted by Gianluca Zambrotta. But Zambrotta didn't get his head on it well enough. His attempted ball back to Buffon was a hospital ball and the Romanians pouned in the form of Adrian Mutu for a huge 55th minute goal. Mutu simply grabbed the ball and slotted it into the roof of the net.
Then Italy quickly earned a corner kick. A minute after Mutu's finish, the corner was kept alive by Chiellini of Italy and it somehow found Panucci of Italy for the easy netter. For the next five minutes the two sides, the fans, the announcers, and myself seemed to start to settle down. Then late in the match it looked as if Romania had won it when an Italian defender pulled a Romanian attacker down in the box. The ref called the PK and it was the hero Mutu stepping up again to take the penalty.
Mutu stepped up and powered a shot to Buffon's left. It wasn't all-the-way in the corner and Buffon ultimately was able to somehow get a hand on a ball that he looked like he had went to far over to get. But luckily Buffon got his hand up and stopped the deflected hand-ball from going in and the Italians were in the clear, or where they? No, they weren't. The Romanians tried even harder to score but were denied just like the Italians in the final 10 minutes. The final score from Zurich was Romania 1, Italy 1. Just a great match. If you haven't seen it and you have a chance then please check it out. You won't be disappointed.
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Comments (11)
Fun game, looking forward to the next one
Big Chaco | 06/13/08, 02:22 PM
Report Offensive CommentIt was a brilliant match - especially in the second half. The Buffon save was fantastic (off his right hand, then off his right boot). Now I have to hope for the Netherlands to beat France so that the France/Italy match will be even more important.
someone else | 06/13/08, 02:23 PM
Report Offensive CommentI was in an airport bar, and I think I was the only one watching the game (and I started yelling when Gigi made the save...how embarassing).
I was extremely impressed with two guys: Chivu and Camorenesi. It was a classic matchup between two world class body parts: Chivu's head, and Camorenesi's right foot.
cowace2 | 06/13/08, 02:25 PM
Report Offensive CommentI was in an airport bar, and I think I was the only one watching the game (and I started yelling when Gigi made the save...how embarassing).
I was extremely impressed with two guys: Chivu and Camorenesi. It was a classic matchup between two world class body parts: Chivu's head, and Camorenesi's right foot.
cowace2 | 06/13/08, 02:26 PM
Report Offensive CommentThat was so important it needed to be said twice.
cowace2 | 06/13/08, 02:26 PM
Report Offensive Commenthahaha. i think you couldve found a spot for Chivu in your Best XI's backline no?
ctsubasa | 06/13/08, 02:32 PM
Report Offensive CommentI couldn't get the chance to watch it but I caught up with the highlights on ESPN. I can't wait for Netherlands-France. That one SHOULD be good.
J. HOVA: BROOKLYN'S OWN | 06/13/08, 02:39 PM
Report Offensive CommentI thought that Fabio Grosso had a very good match, too. His service was great but Toni and Del Piero just couldn't finish off any of them.
Keeper | 06/13/08, 02:48 PM
Report Offensive CommentIt was a great match. I can't wait for tomorrows matchups (if there are any).
Dyhard -- Badgers vs Marshall | 06/13/08, 08:06 PM
Report Offensive CommentItaly should have won it, the ref's have blown so many calls
jeevs BS | 06/14/08, 02:41 PM
Report Offensive CommentI've seen all of 'em so far. (Hi, my name is KansasToonami, and I'm a soccer addict...)
Mutu was crushed afterwards, he had to be taken off! Buffon's penalty stop was a goalkeeper's dream (I play 'keeper on my grad student team), but I feel Mutu's pain as well. If Piturca is a good manager (he should be, he was gaffer the last time Romania made it to a major tournament) he'll have the team ready to go against Netherlands.
I do think Romania got lucky when Toni was called offsides on his goal near the end of the 1st half--but they did well to battle to a draw, and the shot at the win was really icing at that point. Too bad Mutu didn't get to taste it ;-) Maybe he'll be going all out against Netherlands--or maybe he won't even start. Dunno.
Truth be told, I wasn't expecting much from Romania. I figured their best hope was to eke out a draw against France, suffer the inevitable loss to Italy--who would cinch the group by then--and then go for the win against Netherlands. Nevertheless I still thought they would finish 4th. I guess now that's impossible, and if they do beat Netherlands then they're into the quarters and Italy and France go home. Damn, that's harsh. ;-)
In addition to Croatia, Romania's the other team I have a rooting interest in (I have part Croatian ancestry), as I spent over a year there, in 1995-96 on a research grant. So, as unlikely as it may seem, Croatia's won their group and Romania could finish 2nd. Wouldn't have thunk it!
KansasToonami | 06/14/08, 11:44 PM
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