- din categoria “amintirile ne chinuiesc, amintirile ne rascolesc”:  Romania – Argentina, CM ’94

“…într-un top al celor mai frumoase goluri marcate vreodată pe contra-atac, golul trei al echipei naţionale a României, reuşit de Gheorghe Hagi a fost desemnat pe locul 1. Reuşita românească din acel meci a fost descrisă în termeni extraordinari de către cei de la The Guardian.” (sursa: ProSport)

“As soon as Jose Basualdo treads on the ball following an Argentina corner, Romania act like a team who have been given a 10-second time-limit in which to score. Illie Dumitrescu charges straight down the field, with Tibor Selymes deliberately curving his off-the-ball run to drag the defence to his left. Dumitrescu uses Selymes by not using him and instead pauses, winding his foot back and forth like a dial while he waits for Gheorghe Hagi to appear on the right – and, crucially, for the covering defender to run beyond the line of the pass he wants to play. When he does, Dumitrescu’s ball is exquisitely timed and Hagi, on his weaker right foot, rams it into the net with delicious certainty.

As brilliant as the execution was – particularly Dumitrescu’s pause, which is a more manly version of Pele’s tender, loving foreplay ahead of Carlos Alberto’s goal in the 1970 World Cup final – many fine teams could have achieved such a level of technical excellence. But very few would have realised the opportunity was there in the first place.” (sursa: The Guardian)

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Si, la final, un bonus de pe vremea cand Romania mai era in stare de-o rasturnare de scor. Romania-Anglia, Euro 2000.