Today I'm going back 24 years to France 1998 and a World Cup Group G match played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis near Paris with a sell-out attendance of 77,000. The souvenir brochure shown isn't actually a programme at all but, rather, is a commemorative brochure that I picked up at the time thanks to a lady at work. .
The featured game was actually the final game of the Group Stage for each side. This Group also had England in it and, by virtue of Romania's two victories to date (1-0 against Colombia and 2-1 versus England), Romania had already qualified for the Round of 16. Tunisia had already been eliminated having lost their two preceding matches (0-2 against England and 0-1 versus Colombia). Whilst Romania and Tunisia would slog it out in Saint-Denis, England were playing a winner-takes-all tie against the Colombians in Lens, a game commemorated in song by Kirsty MacColl, which they won 2-0.
I was living and working in France at this time and had managed to miss the opportunity to buy tickets for the World Cup. Undeterred I left my office in Saint-Ouen at 5PM and caught the Metro the four stops necessary to get to the Stade de France and then walked around the stadium with my homemade "Je voudrais 1 billet" sign until somebody flogged me their spare ticket at face value. Result! What was even better was that whilst I had been walking round the stadium I'd spotted a sign advising that tickets for the following Sunday's Round of 16 game between Denmark and Nigeria (search on my blog for my memories of that one) would be going on general sale at the Saint-Denis town hall the next day. Result 2!
I will never forget this game for the simple reason of the Romanian barnets! Ahead of the game, the entire Romanian side (with the exception of the shaven headed goalkeeper, Bogdan Stelea) and all their substitutes decided that, for reasons of squad unity, they would sport identical haircuts and had all bleached their hair yellow/blonde. It was surely the definition of a commentator's nightmare with all players indistinguishable apart from their shirt numbers (see the video attached to my blog!).
The game itself was a bad tempered affair and, after 12 minutes, Tunisia were awarded a rather dubious penalty which was fired home by Skander Souayah. That goal not only gave the Tunisians the lead but was also relevant to England who would top the Group if they won and Romania lost. The Romanian first half performance was described on Eurosport as "shambolic" and it was hard to disagree. Certainly, strong words and a few choice substitutions in the second half had the desired effect on Romania and they eventually equalised in the 71st minute through substitute Viorel Moldovan who was a Coventry City player at the time. The game finished one apiece and Romania advanced as Group winners with England also advancing in second place.
In the Round of 16, Romanian "lucky" hairstyles proved to be to no avail in Bordeaux (perhaps they should have tried a red?) as they lost 1-0 to Croatia who would themselves go on to reach the Semi-Finals before losing to eventual winners and hosts France. England? Well they lost to Argentina after a 2-2 draw after extra time. On penalties.
CRB Match No. 1153
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