Germany escape with draw

After creaking under Romanian pressure for 27 minutes, Germany hit back just as surprisingly when Mehmet Scholl sent a swerving 20-metre drive past the unsighted and flatfooted Bogdan Stelea, burying it in the top left corner.

In the battle of veterans Gheorghe Hagi and Lothar Matthaeus, the 35-year-old Romanian came out on top with several dangerous moves, while Mathaeus, 39, mainly created danger for his own defence by playing out of position.

After the stunning opener, Romania continued to grip the Germans by the throat. Germany8217;s vaunted organisation was nowhere in evidence and Matthaeus, supposedly the lock on the defence, was giving his team no leadership and even less direction.

He wandered over much of the pitch but was never in evidence to plug the huge holes that Romanians readily exploited.

In front of a capacity 30,000-crowd at the Sclessin Stadium, Germany was in total disarray and goalie Oliver Kahn, was forced to make two dangerous forays well of his line to limit the early damage.

In return, German action was limited to a powerful header from Oliver Bierhoff, which took an excellent reflex save from Stelea to deflect out of danger.

Stelea was less lucky on Germany8217;s equaliser. Scholl8217;s goal changed the momentum of the game and Germany gradually started seeing more of the ball.

But pushing forward, only left the Geman defence stretched to the limit. In the 41st minute, a deep ball from Hagi to Ilie yet again left the Germans exposed and Jens Novotny appeared to clip Ilie8217;s foot in the penalty area. Hagi and Ilie were given both yellow cards for protesting Kim Milton Nielsen8217;s controversial decision.

At half-time, Germany was extremely lucky to be still in with a shot at victory.

And Bierhoff could have made the difference six minutesinto the second half with another strong header, Stelea was beaten, but it clipped the outside of the post.

From then on, the game settled into an untidy rhythm, with the German defence still struggling to get organised. Moldovan should have gotten a second goal in the 68th minute. Ilie had drawn Kahn from his line and when the ball bounced loose, Moldovan first shot weakly at a defender and sent the rebound wide.

After Hagi was replaced in the 73rd minute, the tired, old master was left biting his nails in the dugout.