At the halfway point of the World Cup, near the end of a day of dull soccer, an 18-year-old spiced things up.
Michael Owen didn't win the game for England, but he tied it with seven minutes to play and nearly did it again with a 30-yard blast that hit the post in injury time.In between, Dan Petrescu won a wrestling match with a defender to score a 90th-minute goal in a thrilling finish for a 2-1 victory that put Romania into the second round.
"The second half," Romanian coach Anghel Iordanescu said, "was really a wonderful show for all."
Last month, in a World Cup warmup against Morocco, Owen became the youngest player this century to start a game for England and the youngest ever to score a goal. Long before he entered the game in the 73rd minute, England fans at Toulouse's Municipal Stadium were chanting his name.
"I told him to go out and enjoy himself and see if he could get that goal," England coach Glenn Hoddle said. "And it went his way."
Owen was a bundle of energy, tying the game by sliding to the turf to net a right-footed shot after Paul Scholes knocked down Alan Shearer's cross.
"It's the case for every striker," said Owen, the youngest World Cup scorer for his nation. "If you don't set out expecting to score, you should not be a striker."
Still, it must be remembered, England lost. Now it needs a win or a draw in its final first-round game against Colombia on Friday to join Romania as the two second-round qualifiers from Group G.
"I'd rather draw 1-1 and not score," Owen said. "Not winning the match was a bitter disappointment."
In Monday's other game, substitute Leider Preciado's goal in the 83rd minute gave Colombia a 1-0 victory over Tunisia. The loss made Tunisia the sixth team eliminated from second-round contention - including the United States.
The Romania-England game was No. 32 on the 64-game World Cup schedule, which starts getting frenetic today when the first of the simultaneous group deciders are played.
Group B goes first, with Italy facing Austria at Saint-Denis at the same time Chile plays Cameroon in Nantes. All four teams are still in the running to advance.
Group A follows, with Brazil-Norway at Marseille and Scotland-Morocco at Saint-Etienne. Brazil has clinched first place in the group, a possible boost for Norway should the defending champion decide to rest some of its stars.
American players were left to ponder their embarrassing loss Sunday to Iran, a low point in U.S. soccer over the past decade.
"I think there's going to be a tremendous amount of disappointment from the fans and, I think, the general public," Alexi Lalas said.
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the Romania-England game was that it wasn't accompanied by a riot.
Some 1,800 French police, wary of three days of violence that surrounded England's first game in Marseille, were on full alert in Toulouse. They deported known hooligans before they could even start making trouble, imposed an 11 p.m. curfew at bars and tensely stared down dejected clumps of English fans that congregated afterward.