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Romania 2 Greece 1, April 8th 1998 Published: April 09, 1998
Romania had a comfortable win against the team their coach Anghel Iordanescu takes over in July in Bucharest last night. They were two goals to the good before Alexis Alexandris managed to pull a goal back for the visitors four minutes from time when he rose in the penalty area to fire in a powerful header. Two days before this match the Romanian squad left thraining ground because it had been built next to a cemetary and they players were disturbed and scared by the fall of shadows from the crosses and tombstones as they worked into the evening. The players had blamed the influence of the graveyard on their poor performance three weekd ago when they lost 1-0 to Israel but there were no such mistakes last night. The Romanian passing game was smooth and confident from the start as the Greeks stood off them in defence and allowed the World Cup qualifiers the free run of midfield for their passing and movement. In such space midfielder Dorinel Monteanu took over and showed the full range of his passing but the home side were unable to press home their advantage with shots on goal. They were lulled into quite an indulgent passing game which became very elaborate at times but produced no real penetration of a defence that was rarely stretched out of position in the first half. The Romanians had to wait beyond the hour to take the lead. Striker Viorel Moldovan continued his hot streak of scoring form for the national side when he glanced a Monteanu corner low into the net in the 62nd minute. It's nearly a goal in every two internationals now for the top Romanian scorer of the qualifiers. He was replaced soon after by Constantin Barbu who scored the second on the rebound ten minutes from the end when
Radu Nicolescu saw his shot spilled into the path of the on rushing substitute.
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