World champions France rode their luck to beat Romania after first-half goals from Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit proved too much for the visitors, for whom Adrian Mutu missed a penalty before Ionel Ganea's late consolation. France seemed to play within themselves and they were helped when Romania conceded the fastest goal in their history, Vieira heading home a Petit free-kick after just 30 seconds. Despite the early setback, Romania settled down well and out-passed their more illustrious opponents in the first half. Three minutes in, the impressive Cosmin Contra saw an effort deflect off Marcel Desailly to go narrowly over the crossbar. Tiberiu Ghioane excelled in midfield, keeping the influence of Zinedine Zidane to a minimum. And Bordeaux No 1 Ulrich Rame was the busier of the two goalkeepers, though he was not troubled when Viorel Moldovan and Adrian Ilie both wasted good chances France made them pay with the second goal after 27 minutes. Zidane and Pires combined cleverly at pace to release Petit who unleashed a thunderbolt from 25 yards out that Romania goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont could only get his fingertips to as it powered into the top corner. Three minutes later, Romania had a grat chance to pull one back when Philipe Christanval brought down Moldovan in the area. But Adrian Mutu continued his disappointing form in a Romania shirt and hit a weak penalty that Rame easily held. France were more convincing after the break and although they created few chances, they dominated possession. But Romania continued to threaten their goal and almost scored but Daniel Pancu's audacious lob 26 yards out close to the touchline was well blocked by Rame. Ionel Ganea got the goal the visitors deserved three minutes form time when he fired home a bicycle-kick effort after Munteanu's corner was headed on by Gica Popescu. France coach Roger Lemerre admitted he has more work to do than he realised after seeing his side stutter to victory in a World Cup warm-up match against Romania on Wednesday. "I am perplexed by the performance" said Lemerre after the 2-1 win in the Stade de France. Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira gave the world champions the perfect start when he headed home an Emmanuel Petit free kick after just 30 seconds, and Petit soon doubled the lead with a 25-yard strike after 27 minutes. But Romania played with more fluidity than France for long periods and pulled one goal back through substitute Ionel Ganea late on. And with the World Cup just three-and-a-half months away, Lemerre is hoping his team rediscover their form quickly. "It was so scrappy in the first 20 minutes - even though we started well and got the early goal." he moaned. "The team was better organised after we went two up, but we still didn't play at all well. "In the last 20 minutes we were particularly slack and the last five minutes were a mess. Romania pulled one goal back near the end and they matching us in the closing stages. So much happened in this game and I will have to ask myself a few questions. I am going to sit down and try to work it all out." added Lemerre. One of the main reasons for France's lack of ideas in the attacking third was the performance of Romania's Tiberiu Ghioane, who marked a subdued Zinedine Zidane out of the game. But Lemerre's team also looked uncertain in defence. Chelsea skipper Marcel Desailly was without his regular partner Frank Leboeuf, who had an injury, and did not look as assured as normal alongside Barcelona's Philippe Christanval. But Desailly said: "We should not be critical and instead applaud the performance of the Romanians. They were very well organised and we found it difficult at times." Romania coach Anghel Iordanescu did not think France deserved to win and claimed that the outcome might have been very different had Ulrich Rame not saved a first-half penalty from Adrian Mutu. "I can't say I recognised the France team today." said Iordanescu after his first match back in charge. "It did not look like the team that won the World Cup four years ago. They didn't seem to exert themselves out there." Chelsea midfielder Petit, however, believes that it would be foolish to read too much into Wednesday's match. "The most important thing was not to win that match 5-0, but to make sure we are ready for the World Cup." he said. "The Romanians were very aggressive, very motivated, and seemed physically more fresh than us. Even though not everything was perfect, I thought it was an encouraging match for us." he insisted. Romania coach Anghel Iordanescu has admitted that France never fully extended themselves during Wednesday's 2-1 victory. "I think the French deserved it and I don't believe they were really trying as hard as they could," he said. "It was difficult because several of the players haven't played for two months because of the domestic league winter break." A goal from Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira within the first 60 seconds followed by Emmanuel Petit's second on 27 minutes set up a solid if unspectacular win for the defending World Cup winners and European Champions. Ion Ganea grabbed a late goal for Romania, who could have snatched a draw had striker Adrian Mutu not missed a second-half penalty. However, Iordanescu, back in his second spell in charge after Georghe Hagi stepped down when Romania missed out on qualification for this summer's World Cup finals, said he was pleased with his players' performance. "I thought they coped well and some of the younger ones showed they should be able to make the step up from the Under-21's to this level." Milan wing-back Cosmin Contra claimed that the team never really recovered from the setback of conceding a goal so early in the match. "We had literally just kicked-off when Vieira scored and it was difficult to come back from that," said Contra. "If they hadn't scored then, I think we would have caused them a lot more problems." Just as decisive was the second-half penalty save from Ulrich Rame - standing in for the injured Fabien Barthez – which denied Mutu a taste of glory in front of a sell-out Stade de France crowd. "Missing a penalty in a major competition would have been worse, but I had a real chance to get us back into the game." said the Verona striker. "I didn't take it and that is very disappointing."

Romania coach Anghel Iordanescu claimed a memorable victory in his first home match in charge as he watched his side go 4-0 up by half-time of their friendly international with Ukraine. Despite a heavy pitch, the Romanian team took control from the start, having in veteran Dorinel Munteanu the best player on the pitch in his 106th appearance for his country. Inside the first two minutes Munteanu had already tried to beat Dinamo Kiev keeper Vitali Reva with two long-range efforts. This was only the prelude to the opening goal, however, scored by Munteanu in the 12th minute with a superb drive from 20 yards. The goal was the midfielder's 13th for Romania, but his first for almost a year. Just five minutes later a great ball from the inspirational Munteanu offered striker Adrian Mutu a great chance to score his second for Romania in 18 games. But after he rounded the goalkeeper the Verona player unselfishly teed up Rapid striker Daniel Pancu who made it 2-0 from close range for his own first goal for Romania. Romania keeper Bogdan Lobont was not called into action until the 25th minute when he tipped an acrobatic volley from Tottenham Hotspur striker Sergei Rebrov over the crossbar. Normal service was resumed fifteen minutes from the break when Romania added a third goal when Pancu struck a fierce shot into the corner of the net from the edge of the area following more great service from Munteanu. The last Romanian goal came in the 40th minute, with another powerful drive from 20 yards, this time from Ionel Ganea - his fourth goal for his country and second in a month after he also scored in France. Pancu almost added a spectacular fifth in the last minute of the half with a superb lob from a tight angle that struck the bar. After the break both coaches, Iordanescu and Leonid Buriak made a number of substitutions. Ukraine showed more eagerness for the fight thereafter and were rewarded with a consolation goal three minutes into the second half. Substitute Serghei Korniltev made good ground on the right side, passing three Romanian players on his way, before picking out Serghei Shiscenko who scored from ten yards.
In the first home match Romania succeeded a memorable victory, winning against Ukraine with 4-1. Romania took control from the start, in the first two minutes Dorinel Munteanu having two attempts on goal.
12' with a strong shoot from 30 metres, D.Munteanu scored; was the 13th goal of Munteanu from national team;
17' Mutu rounded Reva after he passed to Pancu who scored; was a first goal of Rapid striker from Romania;
31' Romania added a third goal when Daniel Pancu struck a fierce shot into the corner of the net from the edge of the area following more great service from Dorinel Munteanu.
37' another powerful drive from 25 metres, this time from Ionel Ganea, 4-0!
48' Serhi Kormiltsev from the right side, dribled three Romanian players on his way, and passed to Serhi Shiscenko who scored from 15 metres;Romania coach Anghel Iordanescu has called on Romanian fans to keep their feet on the ground after his side turned in a stunning first-half performance to beat Ukraine 4-1 in Constanta on Wednesday. "We are happy, but we have a lot of work to do," he said. Romania scored four times in a breath-taking first half to record their first victory for seven months, but they way they played only served to heighten the regret that they will not be at the World Cup. "We have to be in our best form when we start to play seriously, in qualifying for the European championships," Iordanescu went on. I was content with my players' performances, especially until the break, but in the second half there were some clear problems in the centre of our defence. I think we need to find at least one new player in that position. And even though we scored four, there were times when our system didn't work going forward. But don't forget that we have big-name strikers like Viorel Moldovan, Marius Niculae and Adrian Ilie injured, so I believe we have enough options to come up with the right formula”. The only downside for Iordanescu was the torn muscle suffered by Rapid Bucharest striker Daniel Pancu. Even Iordanescu's predecessor as coach, Gheorghe Hagi, the man who has taken much of the blame for Romania's defeat to Slovenia in the World Cup qualifier, was full of praise for the performance. "The boys were great in the first half," he said. "It reminded me of that half against Wales nine seasons ago when we scored five times before the break." Skipper Gica Popescu gave all the credit for the victory to his coach. "He was very brave to play an attacking game," he said. "We played with three strikers, with Adrian Mutu right up behind them and close to the Ukrainian area. "And the young players who came on did enough to suggest that we can expect a good qualifying campaign for the European championships."

Poland were looking to get back to winning ways on the back of last month's humiliating 2-0 defeat against Japan when they hosted Romania on Wednesday. Their task appeared to have been made somewhat easier by the fact Romania arrived without eight players through illness or injury, forcing coach Anghel Iordănescu to field a severely under-strength team. Poland also started the game in an experimental way as some first choice players began on the bench. The Polish reserves did not rise to the task as Romania won the game quite easily. After nine minutes Romania's Ioan Ganea shot over with the first worthwhile attempt of the match. Just a minute later at the other end, Maciej Żurawski fired just wide when Paweł Kryszałowicz was in a better position. Bartosz Karwan headed over the Romanian bar on 21 minutes before Radosław Kałużny from Energie Cottbus fired in a powerful effort soon after but missed the target. On the half-hour mark Tomasz Iwan passed the ball to Kryszałowicz, who sent it to Jacek Krzyńowek but the FC Nürnberg player was blocked by the visiting defence. Romania took the lead a minute later after a terrible mistake from Tomasz Kłos. The Kaiserslautern defender was supposed to start the game on the bench but Jacek Bąk broke one of his fingers during the warm-up and had to be replaced by Kłos. The defender lost the ball close to the Polish penalty area to Ganea who took the ball on and sent it past the helpless Jerzy Dudek in goal. Romania doubled their lead five minutes later to further rock the home crowd. Dorinel Munteanu sent a free-kick into the penalty area for Adrian Mutu to beat Jacek Zieliński to the ball and fire home. The Poles attacked regularly after the break but without much effect. On 49 minutes the industrious Tomasz Hajto fired in a free-kick that was comfortably saved by Bogdan Lobonţ. Substitute Arkadiusz Bąk and Dorinel Munteanu then hit shots over the at either end. On 70 minutes the Russian referee pointed to the spot after Romania's Florin Cernat was fouled by Marek Kozmiński in the penalty area. Ionel Ganea took the kick only to see Dudek saved his shot and the follow-up. Dudek's efforts revived the home side to an extent and Tomasz Hajto scored a consolation goal from a Michał Żewłakow free-kick on 86 minutes. Lobonţ stayed on his goal-line to give Hajto no problems to shoot home from close in. Poland poured forward in search of an equaliser but Claudiu Niculescu almost caught them on the break but Dudek saved his shot. Poland coach Jerzy Engel explained his decision to leave several of his first choice players out of the starting line-up. "I wanted to make some experiments and not show our tactics as I was aware there were people from Portugal, South Korea and USA (the three teams in Poland's World Cup group) following the game." he said. Poland lost again home, being defeated by Romania with 2–0. With such big problems, coach Engel should make some changes because at World Cup will not have any chance (Romania played without 9 stars and it is not qualified at Korea and Japan). Coach Jerzy Engel said: "I didn't show our play tactic because I knew there where people from United States, South Korea and Portugal to see the match. I am angry because is the second defeat at home. I knew we will have a difficult match than that with Japan. Absence of Olisadebe was very obvious in our attack. Romania is a strong team and I think it would be deserved to play at World Cup. I liked very much Ganea and Dorinel Munteanu.". Captain of Romania, Gheorghe Popescu: "This victory makes missing qualification for the World Cup to be even worse. We can easily beat many of the teams who are qualified at Japan & South Korea. The general opinion in Romania is that we have a good team. But we can't do anything to turn back time and replay that play-off with Slovenia. We must just grow from our recent victories and create a competitive team for Euro 2004." Ionel Ganea, striker of Stuttgart was very disapointed of missing the penalty: "I shoted the ball on the right but Dudek guessed it. I allways shot there. The difference could be bigger, but Romania is on a good road.".

An early goal from midfield player Stilianos Giannakopoulos gave Greece a good away win against Romania in their friendly international in Constanta tonight. Giannakopoulos, the Greek side's most dangerous player, curled a free-kick into the net from 20 metres on 16 minutes before missing a chance to double the lead ten minutes later. Romania dominated the second half but saw midfield players Florin Cernat and Florin Soava and forwards Marius Niculae and Viorel Moldovan miss golden chances in front of goal. Defender Adrian Iencsi also hit the post with a header from a left-wing cross by Cernat near the end. Romania's first game in their EURO 2004™ qualifying campaign is away to Bosnia-Herzegovina on 7 September. They also face Denmark, Norway and Luxembourg in Group 2. Greece have been drawn with Spain, Ukraine, Northern Ireland and Armenia in Group 6, with Spain their first opponents at home on 7 September