Mutu magic bewitches Ukraine

Ukraine 0-2 Romania

Penalty paid
The game started at a high tempo, before the visitors took the lead with a first-half penalty. FC Shakhtar Donetsk defender Serhiy Popov fouled Daniel Oprita in the box on 29 minutes and Mutu converted neatly from the spot.

Double strike
Only 12 minutes later, Mutu doubled the lead. The elusive striker played a one-two with FC Dinamo Bucuresti's Flavius Stoican, before placing a powerful shot beyond Olexandr Shovkovskiy's dive and just under the crossbar.

Romania dominate
The visiting side dominated for the whole game with Mutu twice going close to completing his hat-trick. Daniel Pancu also hit the post after nine minutes, while Andriy Shevchenko and his fellow Ukrainians did not have any clear chances to equalise.

Buryak positive
However, Ukraine coach Leonid Buryak managed to stay calm. "Friendlies are thought to test the team and to find weak links in its game," he said. "What is important are the ties against Spain [10 September] and Northern Ireland [6 September]." As he had suggested before the game, Buryak gave gifted 20-year-old Oleh Husev, of FC Dynamo Kyiv, his international debut.

Mitea debut
Buryak's counterpart, Anghel Iordanescu, also gave young Romanian talent Nicolae Mitea his first international cap. The AFC Ajax player spent just ten minutes on the pitch, but still managed to make an impact.

Iordanescu satisfied
"I'm pleased with our display," said Iordanescu. "We wanted to win to get a morale boost before our [UEFA] EURO 2004 ™ qualifying campaign comes to an end. I'm glad we made it. We were stronger." Romania, third in their group, will play Luxembourg on 6 September before travelling to take on group-leaders Denmark four days later.