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Final
Romania 0-0 France
Half: 0-0
Goals
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Romania v France
Time Commentary
93' FULL TIME
France clear the danger and cling on for a disappointing draw. It was a game devoid of spark and flair, which was exactly what the Romanians wanted. The French just couldn't get going and never really looked like scoring against a solid, if unspectacular Romanian side. It was a dull, drab game and on this evidence it's hard to see either of these sides going through instead of Italy or the Netherlands who face off in less than an hour.
91' LATE CHANCE
Romania have a free-kick right by the corner flag. Surely they can't score now! Dica comes on for Radoi right at the death.
89' LONG-BALL FOOTBALL
Makelele fires the ball forward more in hope than expectation, but it just comes straight back to the French holding midfielder. They've run out of ideas!
87' ALMOST A CHANCE
Niculae almost latched onto a through-ball into the French area, but just couldn't get on the end of it to carve out an opening.
85' NO URGENCY
There's no urgency in the French ranks, which, considering that they've got to play Italy and the Netherlands in their other two group games, is a little surprising.
83' TERRIBLE TOUCH
Malouda flicks a pass out to the left... but there's nobody there! France have looked devoid of ideas, which nobody would have expected.
82' WASTED POSSESSION
Gomis dallies on the ball on two separate occasions and gives the ball away both times.
80' CORNER TO ROMANIA
Romania have a corner with 10 minutes remaining. It comes to Rat who has a shot from the edge of the area but it's deflected and goes out for a goal-kick.
78' SUBSTITUTION
Mutu makes way for Marius Niculae up front for Romania.
77' SUBSTITUTION
Benzema makes way for Nasri, another of the new talents to emerge in French football over recent years.
76' POOR EFFORT
Benzema had time and space on the edge of the area, but his shot was a poor one.
74' TAME SHOT
Abidal had a go from distance but didn't make a decent connection and the ball dribbled harmlessly wide.
73' POOR DECISION
Abidal puts the ball out for what should have been a Romanian corner, but the ref gives a free-kick for a non-existent foul.
71' SUBSTITUTION
Gomis comes on for Anelka as France go in search of a goal. The substitute has only played half a game for France but scored twice on that occasion.
69' CLOSED DOWN WELL
Malouda tries to spark an attack again but is closed down and loses the ball.
67' SUBS WARMING UP
The French substitutes are warming up as Domenech clearly feels he needs to change things around.
65' TAME ATTACK
Malouda tries to launch another attack for France but runs in to a wall of yellow shirted defenders and the move comes to nothing.
62' SUBSTITUTION
Codrea replaces Cocis as Romania try to freshen things up.
61' POOR CROSS
Sagnol fires in a cross from deep but Chivu clears with ease once again. France look like they're running out of ideas at the minute.
59' POOR EFFORT
Anelka gets shrugged off the ball on the edge of the area. He's been really disappointing this afternoon.
56' A REAL CHANCE
Ribery picks out Benzema on the edge of the box, but the striker could only place his shot straight at the 'keeper.
53' POOR DELIVERY
Romania have another chance to get the ball in the box, but the delivery was poor once again. This game has been strong on industry but painfully short on quality.
52' ROUGH AND TUMBLE
Mutu is all over Sagnol, who was the last defender, and the ref awards a free-kick to France. That's just as well as Mutu could have been in there.
51' INTO THE WALL
Mutu thunders the ball into the wall, which clearly wasn't 10 yards away. That's a wasted opportunity!
50' YELLOW CARD
Sagnol cynically drags down Mutu on the edge of the box when the Romanian was about to pull the trigger. It's a free-kick in a dangerous area for Romania...
48' INTO ROW Z
Malouda takes on the full-back on the outside and has a go at goal when he would have been better placed to cross. The shot in the end was high and wide in any case.
47' QUIET CROWD
The crowd are almost silent and you can't really blame them, this is a drab performance from both teams.
46' SECOND HALF
France take an age to come out for the second half, but they finally do and Romania get the game going again.
45' HALF TIME...
The ref brings an end to a half that France controlled until the final five minutes when Romania piled the pressure on France. Romania have kept men behind the ball to try and keep control of France's flair players who just simply haven't clicked so far. It's not been a terrible game but not the most scintillating affair either. Let's hope for better in the second half. At half time it's Romania 0-0 France.
44' LATE PRESSURE
Mutu almost gets a chance to shoot in the French box but wins his side a corner. Thuram clears the cross easily though.
43' YELLOW CARD
Goian picks up a booking for a cynical challenge on Ribery.
42' LAST-GASP DEFENDING
Ribery almost found Benzema in the box, who could well have scored, but Chivu just got a toe to the ball and cut out the danger.
39' YELLOW CARD
Contra kicks the ball away in disgust and gets a booking for his troubles. What a ridiculously stupid thing to do!
38' UNLUCKY!
Ribery takes his man on but was victim of an unlucky ricochet and the ball goes out for a goal-kick.
36' RIDICULOUS ANGLE
Anelka goes for a shot that would have put Van Basten's famous volley to shame. Unsurprisingly the striker could only find the side-netting.
34' DANGEROUS ATTACK
Nicolita threads a ball through with his head but just couldn't find Niculae who was lurking in a dangerous position.
32' OVER THE BAR
Ribery takes a short corner before whipping in a testing cross that finds Anelka who could only head over the bar when he should have done better.
30' TERRIBLE DELIVERY
Sagnol had time and space to pick out one of a number of French attackers in the box, but his cross was wildly over-hit and it went out for a goal-kick.
29' INTO THE WALL
Malouda went for goal from 40 yards but could only fire his free-kick effort straight into the wall.
28' CALM AT THE BACK
Mutu was looking to pick up the scraps on the edge of the box but Gallas was calmness personified and cleared the danger with ease.
26' YELLOW CARD
Niculae picks up a booking for a needless handball. The Romanian striker thought he was being fouled but the ref had other ideas.
25' TRICKY WING PLAY
Malouda beats a couple of men and gets to the by-line but can't pick out Anelka in the box and the chance goes begging.
22' MERCURIAL TALENT
The magical Ribery dances his way past a couple of defenders and almost finds Anelka in the box but wins a corner for France instead. The delivery was poor from the corner though and the chance goes begging.
21' DIFFICULT DEFENDING
Gallas failed to clear a dangerous ball in and it almost fell to Niculae, but the Romanian wasn't expecting it and just didn't react to the chance until the ball was past him.
19' LATE CHALLENGE
Anelka goes in hard and late on Chivu and brings the defender down, but the striker, rather luckily, escapes without a booking.
18' DRIFTS OFFSIDE
Anelka drifts offside when there was really no need. That was poor from the French striker.
16' GREAT CHANCE
A fantastic pass from Makelele almost found Malouda who was on a rampaging run, but the Romania 'keeper just got to the ball first.
14' WIDE OF THE POST
Niculae had a go from distance, but the Romanian's shot drifted harmlessly wide.
13' DANGEROUS RUN
Ribery bursts down the left but can't beat his man and the move breaks down.
11' POOR DEFENDING
Gallas failed to deal with a bouncing ball and Nicolita nearly got on the end of it. That was a dangerous moment for the French defender.
8' NEARLY A CHANCE
Mutu almost had time to pull the trigger in the French box, but Thuram got in quickly to close the striker down and snuff out the danger.
7' GOOD SKILL
Mutu produces some classy skill but just can't find a way through the mass of French defenders.
5' TESTING CROSS
Ribery fires in a dangerous free-kick but Chivu gets his head to the ball and clears the danger.
4' POOR CROSS
Sagnol had time to whip in a decent cross after good work from Benzema down the right but the full-back could only find the arms of the 'keeper.
2' LIVELY START
Malouda and Ribery combine to launch a dangerous attack early on for France. There are plenty of defenders back for Romania though, and Chivu clears the danger.
1' WE'RE UNDERWAY
The anthems have been sung and France get us underway. France are without the injured Vieira and Henry but bring in Toulalan and Anelka which just goes to show the strength of their squad.
0' FRANCE
France limped through a qualification group that included their fellow Group C opponents and World Cup finalists Italy, the ever-dangerous Ukraine and a spirited Scotland side. Manager Raymond Domenech has a plethora of attacking riches at his disposal but has struggled to get to grips with the level of choice at his disposal and has developed a reputation as a bit of a tinker-man. If France fire on all cylinders at any point in this tournament then the results could be explosive, but early signs suggest that a string of injuries might dampen French enthusiasm; Vieira, Henry and the talented and creative Bayern Munich star Ribery are all doubts for this game. But with the likes of Benzema, Ben Arfa and Anelka still to choose from it's highly likely that France will go a long way in the tournament, if not all the way.
0' ROMANIA
It seems Romania have already been discounted by many on-lookers as potential qualifiers from the Group of Death, but after topping a qualification group including the Netherlands, and with the likes of Mutu and Chivu in their ranks it would be dangerous to forget about these potential tournament underdogs. If Romania are to do well in Austria and Switzerland then they will look to their potent strike-force of Mutu and Marica to fire on all cylinders. The deadly duo netted 11 times between them in qualifying and could cause the French defence all sorts of problems this evening.
0' MATCH PREVIEW
The first game today sees the hugely talented yet dangerously inconsistent French take on the potential banana skin side of Group C, Romania. Both sides have great talent going forward and, particularly if Romania score early to bring France out of their shell, we could be in for a really decent game of football.
0' GROUP OF DEATH
Every tournament has its so-called Group of Death and this time out it's Group C that gets that dubious honour. With the two World Cup finalists, France and Italy, lining up alongside the Netherlands and a potentially dangerous Romanian side, this is the group that everyone will want to follow.
Commentary  |  Team Stats  |  Player Stats
Teams
RomaniaFrance
Bogdan Lonut Lobont
Adrian Mutu
Cristian Chivu
Paul Constantin Codrea
Daniel Niculae
Cosmin Marius Contra
Gabriel Tamas
Dorin Goian
Mirel Matei Radoi
Banel Nicolita
Nicolae Dica
Razvan Rat
Marius Niculae
Razvan Cocis
Grégory Coupet
William Gallas
Willy Sagnol
Nicolas Anelka
Claude Makelele
Jérémy Toulalan
Florent Malouda
Eric Abidal
Bafetimbi Gomis
Franck Ribéry
Samir Nasri
Karim Benzema
Lilian Thuram
 
Substitution
64' - Codrea
 - Cocis
79' - Niculae
 - Mutu
90' - Dica
 - Radoi
Gomis - 72'
Anelka - 
Nasri - 78'
Benzema - 
  
  
Yellow Cards
 Niculae (27')
 Contra (40')
 Goian (43')
Sagnol (51')  
 
 
RomaniaTeam StatsFrance
0 Goals 0
0 Assists 0
5 Shots 10
0 Shots on Goal 1
1 Saves 0
0 Penalties Scored 0
0 Penalty Kicks 0
10 Crosses 24
3 Corner Kicks 3
1 Offsides 1
19 Fouls Committed 22
3 Cautions/Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
Commentary  |  Team Stats  |  Player Stats
Romania
  GA SHT SHT-OG Svs SPct PKF PKS YC RC
B. Lobont 0 10 1 1 100.0 0 0 0 0
  SUB G Ast SHTS SOG SOG% CK CR FC FS Off YC RC
C. Chivu 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0
R. Cocis -65 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1 2 0 0 0
P. Codrea +65 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
C. Contra 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 2 2 0 1 0
N. Dica +91 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
D. Goian 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1 2 0 1 0
B. Lobont 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
A. Mutu -80 0 0 2 0 0.0 2 3 3 2 0 0 0
B. Nicolita 0 0 0 0 - 1 1 3 4 0 0 0
D. Niculae 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 1 2 3 1 1 0
M. Niculae +80 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
M. Radoi -91 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
R. Rat 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0
G. Tamas 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 0 3 0 0 0

France
  GA SHT SHT-OG Svs SPct PKF PKS YC RC
G. Coupet 0 5 0 0 - 0 0 0 0
  SUB G Ast SHTS SOG SOG% CK CR FC FS Off YC RC
E. Abidal 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 3 2 4 0 0 0
N. Anelka -73 0 0 3 0 0.0 0 2 3 1 1 0 0
K. Benzema -79 0 0 3 1 33.3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
G. Coupet 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
W. Gallas 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B. Gomis +73 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
C. Makelele 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 5 2 0 0 0
F. Malouda 0 0 2 0 0.0 1 2 3 0 0 0 0
S. Nasri +79 0 0 0 0 - 0 2 0 1 0 0 0
F. Ribéry 0 0 0 0 - 2 9 2 3 0 0 0
W. Sagnol 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 4 1 0 1 0
L. Thuram 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1 2 0 0 0
J. Toulalan 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 1 2 2 0 0 0

Goalkeepers
GAGoals Allowed
SHTShots Faced
SHT-OGShots on Goal Faced
SvsSaves
SPctSave Pct.(Percentage)
PKFPenalty Kicks Faced
PKSPenalty Kicks Saved
YCCautions/Yellow Cards
RCRed Cards
Players
GGoals
SHTSShots
SOGShots on Goal
SOG%Shots on Goal %
CKCorner Kicks
CRCrosses
FCFouls Committed
FSFouls Suffered
YCCautions/Yellow Cards
RCRed Cards
AstAssists
OffOffsides
SUBSubstitution
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