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ROMANIA 0-2 CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Panenka 11, Masopust 23

RIO - Maracana

Without wishing to generalise, like their near neighbours Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia, it can be difficult to predict what sort of performance Romania will produce on a given day. Unfortunately, this was something of an off day.

Their two previous defeats, along with results from other groups, meant that qualification was an impossibility, and the notoriously temperamental Gheorghe Hagi looked disinterested throughout.

Without him to worry about, the more disciplined Czechoslovakians effectively wrapped up the points by halfway through the first half. First, great interplay between Masopust and Nejedlý created space for midfielder Antonin Panenka to chip the ball first time over keeper Ljung and in off the bar.

Not long afterwards, Masopust was on hand himself to score, after Kubala had danced around Petrescu and out-paced Dinu before squaring the ball. After half-time Hagi roused himself from his slumber for a while but seemed intent on trying to do everything himself.

At one point he did wow the crowd by playing the ball forward with such venomous backspin that he was able to actually get on the end of his own pass. It did no good though, as the defence closed him down as he tried to dribble through them all. As their talisman grew frustrated and began to drift back out of the game, Romania’s hopes faded.

Lăcăctus and Georgescu were willing runners up front and clearly had plenty of skill, but their opponents rarely looked too worried. Romania’s lack of depth at this level had been exposed.

Hagi was a world star, and Belodedici had shown himself to be a great sweeper, but not enough of the others were at the level of some of their opposite numbers in these three games.

Czechoslovakia though, marched on. They had drawn with group favourites England and had comfortably won here today when they needed to. They had plenty of players who knew what it took to reach World and European finals, and would go into the knock out phase with cautious optimism.

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