Fulham's Steed Malbranque got the only goal of the game when France took
a large step towards booking their place in the Under-21 European Championship
finals with victory over Romania in Bucharest on Saturday.
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Steed Malbranque scores only
goal for Freance
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Romania were weakened by coach Gheorghe Hagi's decision to call up three
players from the Under-21 squad to join his side for the World Cup play-off
against Slovenia, and France were soon in control, Steed Malbranque firing
home from 25 yards to give his side the lead on eight minutes.
"It's definitely a good result. Of course I would have preferred
to win 3-0, but I'm happy with that," France coach Raymond Domenech
said.
Just before scoring the opener, Malbranque had wasted a superb chance
from the penalty spot after the Romania defence had failed to clear Sidney
Govou's cross. The Fulham midfielder was caught by surprise when completely
unmarked in front of goal and shot wide.
Romania's best chance fell to Catalic Munteanu who hit the post four minutes
after the restart.
rance should have doubled their lead with ten minutes to go when Lyon
striker Govou shot wide after being found in plenty of space by Malbranque
pass.
"Scoring here means Romania will have to score twice to win in France,
which is important," Domenech said. "Still, we saw them play
against Italy during the group stages and they did particularly well.
So let's be cautious, we've won nothing yet."