National Team Friendly

National Stadium
Spectators: 10300 (Terracing: 7725, Seating: 2369, VIP seats: 206) Pavel Alexandru made the kick off and thus started the match. U21 Romania's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Pavel Alexandru in the 3rd minute. U21 Romania's Gigel Zburliş suffered a concussion after 9 minutes and had to leave the field. Landon Donovan charged in rather forcefully in the 9th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Landon Donovan the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. U21 Romania's Paul Maghear was substituted for Gigel Zburliş. In the 10th match minute, U21 Mexico was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Landon Donovan to maneuver through the defense. An unexpectedly hard shot by Petrică Nistor in the 12th minute of play forced U21 Mexico's goalkeeper Angelino Johans to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Pavel Alexandru could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 13th minute of the match, but Angelino Johans made a huge save. After 14 minutes U21 Mexico's defender was forced to head the ball over the line for a corner. It was Pavel Alexandru who took care of the corner kick. Mugurel Banica did some fancy footwork in front of goal and succeeded to deceive the defenders so he could slam the ball in 1-0 to the left of a surprised Angelino Johans 14 minutes into the match. Emanuel Encuțu showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from José Antonio Noriega, who was totally free with the ball in the 16th minute. Emanuel Encuțu took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from John-Paul Motowski, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Emanuel Encuțu came out of the goal in the 28th minute to try and stop a shot by U21 Mexico's Landon Donovan. But to his dismay, Landon Donovan quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 1-1. U21 Romania's Emanuel Encuțu played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Landon Donovan in the 32nd minute of play. Landon Donovan kicked well hit freekick during the 42nd minute of the match. With a little luck, U21 Mexico's Angelino Johans got control of the ball when Petrică Nistor tried to sneak it across the goal line. If John-Paul Motowski had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 44th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. The first half was very even, with the score at 1-1 when the whistle went for half-time. The players welcomed the break and quickly retired to the dressing rooms.

When the second half was about to start, both teams quickly lined up and Landon Donovan made a kick off. Emanuel Encuțu made an important save on a dangerous shot by Alejo Toro in the 53rd minute. Landon Donovans short, quick shot in the 56thth minute got Emanuel Encuțu to make great effort and bar the ball away from getting in. U21 Romania's Adrian Pătru was substituted for Augustin Miulescu. Petrică Nistor fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 63rd minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Angelino Johans having to interfere. U21 Mexico made a substitution. Paulino Lordi replaced José Antonio Noriega. In the 67th minute, Adrian Pătru left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The U21 Romania fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 3-1. 71 minutes into the match, Landon Donovan notched a goal, 3-2, to the right of U21 Romania's Emanuel Encuțu. Emanuel Encuțu was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. The audience was convinced that Paulino Lordi's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Emanuel Encuțu was relentless in the 73rd minute of the game. In the 76th play minute Landon Donovan came free and shot an unsuspected shot which went into goal from the right pole behind a surprised Emanuel Encuțu. 3-4. Emanuel Encuțu took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Paulino Lordi, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. An unexpectedly hard shot by Paulino Lordi in the 83rd minute of play forced U21 Romania's goalkeeper Emanuel Encuțu to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. In the 84th minute, Adrian Pătru got an opportunity to score, but he didn't get a solid hit on the ball and ended up kicking it wide of the goal. An unexpectedly hard shot by Andrei Fox in the 89th minute of play forced U21 Mexico's goalkeeper Angelino Johans to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Emanuel Encuțu showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from John-Paul Motowski, who was totally free with the ball in the 90th minute. Aurel Chevereșan hit a great freekick 91 minutes into the match. Emanuel Encuțu made an important save on a dangerous shot by Landon Donovan in the 92nd minute. 94 minutes into the match, U21 Romania's Andrei Fox sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that Angelino Johans narrowly saved just below the crossbar. In the 96th match minute, U21 Romania was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Andrei Fox to maneuver through the defense. The away crowd were delighted with the way their team had played and cheered loudly when the final whistle sounded. U21 Mexico walked away with the win, even though the match was close until the end.