Argentina v Romania Group B 18-06-1990
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00:00and now there's great uncertainty about what's happening at home and almost hourly you see
00:05bulletins about what's happening in trouble-torn Romania it's very difficult to see how it will
00:12affect the players the one thing is certain they have a very very hard match no matter what happens
00:16but there seem some grim faces out there whether it's about what's happening at home or whether
00:20it's just sheer determination we'll have to wait and see on the Maradona front he's he's had one
00:26booking he seems to court danger when whenever he gets near a referee he seems to make a big play
00:32whenever he goes down but I think the one thing that you can expect tonight is he's here in his
00:37own arena this is his patch he plays here regularly the ground is familiar to him the surroundings the
00:43smell of the place and I think we're possibly in for one of his great shows we certainly hope so
00:48because the greatest player in the world hasn't shown it yet maybe this is the night when we can
00:52all have an hour and a half's absolute pleasure let's hope so it's a fabulous theater for that to
00:59happen the San Paolo Stadium bubbling with atmosphere as Argentina in white shorts tonight
01:04playing for the left and Romania in yellow and blue first free kick and it was Maradona involved
01:12straight away the other thing we ought to remind people back home about is that the runners-up in
01:18this group will play the runners-up in England's group in the next round
01:22in Genoa so we could be watching England's next opponents
01:30here's Rotario number five for Romania
01:32yeah
01:43Popescu coming from the back as he likes to do 21 is the
01:46young player Lupescu his father played against England in 1970
01:52and three is Michael Klein one of several players in this match on a yellow card
01:58in fact Argentina have five players out of the starting lineup who are on a warning already
02:03and Haji is spoken to there by the referee for the foul on number four Basualdo getting a foot in there
02:10and Caniggia again Maradona to his right and he loves to run at defenders the number
02:15eight and Maradona's put him in it's Caniggia with a chance for Argentina and he's missed it
02:20his pace got him there plus Maradona's pass but he would have hoped to finish better than this
02:35but in the four internationals they've played friendlies Argentina have won them all so
02:40Romania who've never been further in the world cup than this initial stage
02:44have a lot to do and they made a mistake there Maradona with Caniggia in the middle
02:49and Lung a flying save Batista heads it back in Burrachaga, Caniggia, Burrachaga over the bar
02:59Maradona there again a break down the left hand side and a superb cross difficult difficult for
03:04the goalkeeper he could only palm it out fortunately it took so long to come down
03:08and they weren't able to make make the most of it here is the cross goalkeeper out
03:12eventually it comes to Burrachaga who is number seven
03:20and then Ballent that was Hagi, Lakitus good ball that Lakitus goes for goal
03:36that was a beautiful cross field ball from Hagi
03:40the type of thing that turns defenses makes them have to be very very decisive but he seems to be
03:46trying to win a mental battle here in the middle of the field if he can dictate then he feels that
03:51maybe it will be it will react better on his side on the same time Maradona trying to do exactly the
03:57same who will win this battle this is Burrachaga for Argentina with the shot and not a bad effort
04:04from the man who scored the winning goal in the final four years ago
04:10Jorge Burrachaga now while that was going on Troglio went up to the referee
04:15and made a gesture with his elbow insisting that Hagi elbowed him in the face
04:25that was Cerezuela who hit it first and not a very impressive free kick by Argentina
04:30and Romania on the break Ballent number 18 Lakitus far side
04:37could be something on here that's his shot and Goichea
04:42did manage to turn it round in a fairly clumsy fashion but Lakitus hit it well
04:49it's a corner to Romania brilliant ball across the field by Ballent to Lakitus and he didn't
04:56beat Desai from quite that angle but it was similar Goichea wasn't going to get caught
05:01Troglio has just moved away leaving it to Hagi this must be 30 yards
05:12Hagi with the left foot out Goichea had to throw himself full length
05:17Hagi is the equivalent to Maradona in Romania he's their
05:28pin-up boy and he can take free kicks with his left foot from any angle and any distance
05:33well he's full of surprises and we're looking at two number 10s here who can produce
05:50rabbits out of a hat in a football sense Hagi showing why they call him the Maradona of Romania
05:56lovely left foot although Goichea made himself look as though he knew it was going wide
06:07Basualdo
06:10Monzon Simon
06:16Batista
06:19Basualdo back from Troglio
06:26so
06:33bodies all over the place again free kick to Argentina
06:39Gennai is turning around and looking at the fourth official as if to say well how can we tackle
06:45if the opponents are going to lie down all the time it's Maradona obviously on the ground
06:51and Borucarga is now involved in an argument with the referee well
06:54Rotario would say he went for the ball but Maradona made it look as though he played the man
07:05but the tackle from behind has been heavily outlawed by FIFA in this
07:08World Cup so you can't complain too much about that
07:21so
07:25tremendous shot again it's Serizuela who's hitting these free kicks the number 18 he's
07:33nominally the left back but he seems to come across to take free kicks with his right foot
07:37look at the swing on that it curved considerably and it must have been 35 to 40 yards when he hit
07:45it only a minute left in the first half as the supporters in Naples
07:54respond to some good play over the last quarter of an hour by both teams
08:00Haji Balint spun away to the far side of the penalty area Haji tries his own shot to match
08:08that of Serizuela a moment earlier and that was dipping a bit as well Bobby is a specialist in
08:14shooting you'll be enjoying this well I actually saw four of the Argentinian defenders look at
08:21amazement at that because it just missed by actually six inches no more than that but he
08:26was from such a distance and it seemed as though he had the last thing in his mind was to shoot
08:31and then seconds later the ball's on the other side of the bar but an absolutely sensational
08:35skill and it's made them have to think they'll certainly not let him go as close to the goals
08:39as that again before they have to put the foot in and tackle actually could be disastrous for them
08:45a great match and I'm really enjoying it very much good football end-to-end stuff
08:49plenty of shots plenty of excitement a little theatrical but nevertheless
08:52suppose we can expect that in small portions
08:57yes it looked as if the fans here were sharing your enjoyment of it
09:01they've seen some firecracker of matches in the Italian league here this last two or three years
09:07with Maradona playing in this stadium for Napoli and Correca plays here as well of course the
09:12Brazilian they've got some great performers down here in the south and they love their football
09:18in this city and there are plenty of world cup matches scheduled here and in this one at half
09:25time the two teams haven't produced a goal but there's an awful lot of tactical thinking gone
09:30on out there and some powerful shooting too that's perhaps been the highlight
09:36point of discussion obviously about the tackling and the early bookings
09:40but that's to be followed up I'm sure back in London because we leave you for the time being
09:45from the San Paolo Stadium in Naples with the half-time score in this Group B match Argentina
09:51in this Group B match Argentina nil Romania nil decision to make every time Maradona
09:58gets involved in a tackle or a tangle and we'll see what the second half brings in that respect
10:02the crowd tonight by the way inside the San Paolo Stadium 52,733 the official crowd figure given to
10:10us along with that FIFA report during half time so I think we've brought you up to date with the
10:15news from here back to the football and it's Rotario for Romania to Andanay just emphasizing
10:20as well what Desmond said that if the Soviet Union keep their lead against Cameroon and finish
10:25with two points then these two teams if they draw would both be on three the Soviets would go out
10:31and it would look as though both these two teams would go into the next round it does depend partly
10:36on what happens in other groups because it's the four teams among the six finishing third in their
10:42groups who have the best record it's all a bit complicated and we hope that over the course of
10:47the next few days we'll make it clear to you this is Batista what is certain is Jimmy Hill was saying
11:02that it would be better for either of these teams to finish second than to finish third
11:08in terms of the next opposition here's number 21 Lupescu, Batista for Argentina
11:18six over there for Pescu who had that thrilling run early on
11:21one of the players we highlighted at the head of the program Andanay, Rotario
11:38Rotario in the right back position at the start of the second period
11:46so he's actually not been playing any first class football at all he's only been training
11:51which was why when he came on unexpectedly for Pompidou he may have looked a little rusty here's Haji
12:01that's a great run and they've got three waiting in the middle Romania
12:05and here's a chance it was Balint
12:11and just as we were talking about Guy Caccia he is called into action
12:16it was a lovely run by Haji showing this time that he can do it with his right foot as well
12:21pulled it back with his left Balint had the shot and Guy Caccia reacted
12:25to turn it over the bar corner to Romania
12:28so a free kick to Romania, Andanay has made his way forward Haji will take it I think
12:40Lakitus is in there too and Balint's in there oh another good chance
12:47and Romania have now missed two opportunities and they've both fallen to the same man
12:51Gavriel Balint who was once the top goal scorer in European football he won the coveted golden
12:57boot a couple of years ago
13:08oh the head is in yes
13:12I think it may have been number 15 Monzon
13:17and Argentina are in front
13:18and it is in fact Maradona swung the corner in and he puts his hands together
13:29and the crowd respond in the same way applauding the goal after 61 minutes
13:35and Maradona curled the corner in and Monzon the big defender up for the set play
13:43the header at the near post leaves long wrong footed
13:49I better do a bit really from here there's number 15 Pedro Monzon
13:56who came in against the Soviet Union in a team change kept his place place for Independiente
14:03and he's put Argentina ahead seconds after they brought on their second substitute so it's all
14:09change here in Naples 17 minutes gone in the second half the world champions are in the lead
14:15and Romania now have got something to sort out because they of course only have two points
14:24here's Retariu and they'll be regretting the chances they miss surely now by balance it's
14:31Retariu again
14:41that announcement
14:50I don't know whether you can
14:53but hear my voice whether it's being drowned by the loudspeaker system here which is uh
14:58quite deafening time coach made two quick substitutions
15:02and it seems at this stage that it may have paid off but Romania have a corner now
15:11Pepescu's Andanay he's missed his opportunity to equalize Pepescu in the picture I think may
15:18have either flicked it on or gone in first but I'm fairly sure number four Andanay
15:22had the better chance of scoring
15:26there's Pepescu that's Andanay and yes it was a poor header from a good position
15:33the goalkeeper nowhere he'd come and missed it completely
15:39Lakitus
15:43Haji
15:44Andanay
15:50well played Lepescu and it's our chance at the far post surely and balance goal they've equalized
15:59Balint got the final touch Lakitus supplied the cross and Romania have made it 1-1
16:07it's Lakitus with the cross and Goichea is in difficulties here right from the start
16:12he doesn't know where the ball is he's nowhere near it and Balint gets the final touch
16:18after the cross was knocked back from the far post and there is the equalizer
16:27Romania coming back strongly they'd missed two chances earlier I should say
16:32but Balint who was the guilty party on both occasions had the chance to make up for it
16:37and it was third time lucky for him number 18 and he equalizes for the Romanians
16:45so we're back to 1-1 and all those mathematics I was talking about change again Haji
16:55good cross by Lakitus he's proved a significant party again here for Romania
16:59the ball that was sent in a beautiful cross was eventually knocked in by Balint and Balint has
17:04been really one of the good strikers here here's the other one Canesia for Argentina and there's
17:12trouble there on the near post for Lung and he was a bit fortunate it actually rolled behind the
17:16line before the Argentine player could get there Maradona was in the thick of it again
17:21this is made possible by Canesia's pace on the ball and Balint's ability to get the ball
17:27this is made possible by Canesia's pace on the right drove the ball in low to the near post
17:32and Maradona before he can turn round the ball's over the line for a goal kick
17:39quite a brave save by the goalkeeper the ball Batista's in there
17:44Dezotti standing just behind him it's the dying seconds here Canesia's there too
17:49oh and Lung's missed it and the shot was blocked by Klein from Basualdo and the referee turned round
18:01and waved the trainers on because Lung is hurt the Romanians are surrounding the referee i think
18:06they've been told by the bench that it's time and they want the whistle to go you can understand why
18:12this was Lung not collecting the ball
18:14this was Lung not collecting the ball shot by Basualdo blocked by Klein corner to Argentina
18:45all the big lads are up
18:54but it's been played back to Basualdo what a waste of a corner that would have been laughed
18:59out of court in any football match but look at the celebrations on that bench Romania knew what
19:04they wanted they have celebrated a draw against Argentina one each to give both countries three
19:13points in the group and if Romania who obviously are safe with that and have qualified this is
19:20history for them that's why they're so excited it's the first time ever that Romania have got
19:25beyond the first phase of the world cup finals a team who entered way back in the first tournament
19:30in 1930 have achieved their best ever performance and that's why they're so thrilled there and
19:37celebrating because of course they have got the three points so of Argentina both sets of players
19:46will be anxious to know what's happened uh in the other match showing to the fact that that affects
19:51how the group finishes well we'll be able to show you that in a second but here in Naples the goals
19:57by Monzon on 61 minutes for Argentina for Argentina balance equalized for Romania six minutes later
20:04their supporters are thrilled to bits there were five bookings but nobody was sent off
20:09and the final score was Argentina won Romania won