Germany buckle in Bucharest

Romania 5-1 Germany

Kahn helpless
Germany coach Rudi Völler started the game with under-pressure goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, but the captain could do nothing to shore up a defence that looked brittle every time the Romanians came forward. Völler was without injured defender Christian Wörns and could draw little comfort from the centre-back partnership of Jens Jeremies and Carsten Ramelow. The German midfield was without Michael Ballack as well.

Plesan breaks deadlock
Romania wasted no time in putting the visitors under pressure and Kahn was relieved to see Danciulescu head over from eight metres early on. But after 20 minutes, Romania playmaker Mihaita Plesan seized on a loose pass from Fabian Ernst and jinked past three defenders before rifling a left-footed drive high into Kahn's net.

Rat doubles lead
The lead was doubled three minutes later as left-back Rat outpaced Arne Friedrich before lobbing an exquisite chip over Kahn. The Germans were on the ropes but still managed to carve out two half-chances, both of which were squandered by Kevin Kuranyi.

Danciulescu double
Romania provided the knockout blow with two further goals in a three-minute spell as half-time approached. Danciulescu capitalised on poor defending twice, first escaping his marker to poke in Florentin Petre's centre after a quickly taken free-kick, then finding space in the area to head Flavius Stoican's cross straight at Kahn from six metres. The beleaguered German captain could only push the ball into his net.

German changes
Völler brought on Paul Freier for the second half and replaced Kahn with VfB Stuttgart goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand. The Romanians continued to control the game, though, and almost made it five but Petre failed to connect with Stoican's teasing cross. Hildebrand stopped a certain goal by tipping a Petre lob on to the crossbar, then smartly held on to Ionel Ganea's chip from range after Kuranyi had headed one cross over at the other end and side-footed another wide.

Late strikes
Substitute Gheorghe-Gabrie Caramarin had the final word for Romania. He rushed on to Adrian Neaga's delightful lay-off to drill in a fifth goal from eight metres. Germany regained a shred of pride when Philipp Lahm struck a consolation at the back post after more good work by Freier – but by then, the visitors were well beaten.

Romania regret
The result ends an impressive run of form in friendly matches for Germany, who had beaten Croatia and Belgium already this year. Romania can reflect on a fantastic performance but one tinged with the regret that the rest of Europe will not see them at UEFA EURO 2004™, for which they narrowly failed to qualify. On this showing, they will be missed in Portugal.