Contra proud of foiling France

Cosmin Contra spoke of his pride after Romania gained their first point of UEFA EURO 2008™ by holding France to a goalless draw at the Letzigrund Stadion.

'Good result'
After a game defences dominated, the Getafe CF full-back was happy to reflect on a job well done having restricted Raymond Domenech's side to few clear-cut chances. "Not losing against a team like France in the first game is a good result for us," Contra told euro.2008. "We prepared thoroughly for this game and knew all about the movement of the French forwards. Once again it was a good performance from our defence but the team as a whole takes credit because everyone worked hard tonight."

Hot night
A common theme among both sets of players was the heat, with the sun making its first appearance of the tournament. According to Contra, though, the effect of the soaring temperatures was eased by a compact pitch which was also helped Romania defensively. "We trained all week with the rain and today it was 30 degrees out there. It was very hot but it was the same for both sides. It wasn't the biggest of pitches and maybe that helped us as well because France found it very difficult to break us down or get past us."

Few chances
The one disappointing aspect from Romania's point of view was the failure to carve out openings of their own and the 32-year-old Contra, who picked up a yellow card just before half-time, said that was something to rectify, starting in Friday's match against Italy, also in Zurich. Even so, the point taken from the 2006 FIFA World Cup runners-up gave the Tricolorii a confidence boost ahead of their meeting with the Azzurri.

Boost
"We would have liked to have created more chances and normally we do, but you have to remember we were playing against a very good France side and for a lot of our players, that was a new experience," said Contra, one of four players who were also part of the Romania squad that reached the last eight of UEFA EURO 2000™. "That experience will have done our players a lot of good. I'm sure we will create more opportunities against Italy and maybe we can win that game."