Football: World Cup - The Global Game

World Cup Around the World

ROMANIAN DAILY newspapers printed supplements to mark Monday's 2-1 victory over England. "Cobra's dance hypnotises England," was the headline in Ziua, referring to the nickname of the striker Adrian Ilie. "Romania descends into the streets."

The newspaper praised the coach, Anghel Iordanescu, as the man of the hour, lionising him as "Anghel - the Angel!"

The daily Pro Sport singled out Dan Petrescu's last-minute winning goal with the headline: "Dan-gerous: Death for England comes from the East."

The significance of the goals scored by Petrescu and Moldovan - both playing in the English Premier League - was not lost on Romania Libera: "Englishmen Moldovan and Petrescu bring England to its knees."

Another daily newspaper, National, went so far as to apologise for articles last month accusing some Romanian players of enjoying lavish lifestyles while the country wallowed in poverty.

Radio Bucharest said the score did not fully reflect the extent to which Romania had dominated the game. "Hagi and his team-mates laid down the law on the pitch for most of the match," a commentator said with glee.