Gheorghe Hagi will look on helpless from the bench here tonight yet such is the immense shadow his presence casts over his team and his country that the old magician has still had the capacity to dominate Romania's thinking over a game which is holding a nation in thrall.

Two bookings have consigned Hagi to the sidelines, leaving Romanians unable to bear the thought that, should they lose or draw against England, their icon will have played his last game in a senior championship. In Bucharest on Saturday night, thousands chanted his name, imploring him to reconsider his retirement decision, as if they could not imagine life without him.

At the team's base north of Brussels, though, they are having to learn. To a man, they want to win tonight, not only for Romania but also for Hagi.

'Yes, just to get him at least one more game in the quarter-finals,' said Dan Petrescu. 'Everybody would love that for him.'

This emotional pull should not be understated. Take David Beckham's fame in England, then multiply it tenfold to appreciate Hagi's standing back home.

'He is a god for the Romanian people and nobody understands that he is only a human being,' reckoned the Romanian Federation president Mircea Sandu. 'But his career is coming to a close and he must finish this European campaign in grand fashion.'

Everyone makes it sound like it is the team's sacred duty to win it for Gheorghe.

The man himself, when not indulging in his latest conspiracy theory about his booking against Portugal being part of a grand plot by the super-powers to muzzle the Romanian underdog, tries to deflect the wailing to tell his team-mates: 'It is time to show everybody that Romania know how to play with no Hagi. We can beat England again.'

He points to the fact that seven of tonight's likely starters were part of the team which he inspired to victory over Glenn Hoddle's crew in Toulouse two years ago, including goalscorers, Viorel Moldovan and Petrescu, and chief tormentor, Adrian Ilie.

'Why should we be afraid of England?' said Hagi. 'We have many players who've been in the squad for 10 years or more. Why shouldn't we think of ending our careers in glory?'

Do not think that he is now just a cheerleader, though. Ever since Hagi was wooed out of international retirement last year, touched by the pleading ode of a Romanian poet, to inspire the Euro 2000 qualifier triumph over Hungary, he has been omnipotent within the camp. Victor Piturca, the previous coach, tried to assert his authority over Hagi and lost big-time, so the present incumbent, Emerich Jenei, treads warily.

'If Hagi gives me his opinion on who should replace him in the team, I will listen to his proposal,' said Jenei, prompting a chuckle from at least one Roman-ian journalist who swears Hagi picks the team anyway.

The conservative move would be to bring in the experienced Ioan Lupescu to shore up the midfield but Romania have to win and Dinamo Bucharest's Florentin Petre is the more attacking option. Then there is the possible gamble of blooding Adrian Mutu, hailed as the best Romanian find for years, a quicksilver 20-year-old snaffled by Internazionale's scouts when they watched him top the Romanian scoring charts last winter. So far here, he has only had 15 minutes as a substitute for Hagi in the draw with Germany.

Yet, whoever steps in, there is a school of thought, almost heretical in Romania, which suggests Hagi's suspension is actually a blessing. Sure, he produced the odd delicious cameo in the first two games but pulling all the strings was looking increasingly hard labour for a 35-year-old.

'Great for 20 minutes,' was one Romanian commentator's verdict. 'Then we should have put a chair out on the pitch for him.'

Younger legs will be needed on a stifling night in Charleroi, goes the argument. Yet nobody denies that, in Hagi's absence, it is the streetwise determination of his old friends which must provide the platform.

'It's the last chance for many of us,' said Gica Popescu, 100 caps not out and still looking, in the words of his old Barcelona coach Bobby Robson, 'a real gem' at the back.

Hagi may be their god but his brother-in-law Popescu is the one they dub Baciul , the leader. The former Spurs man looks at his fellow thirtysomethings (goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea, Petrescu and Dorinel Munteanu) and sees players who deserve to end their international days as more than nearly men. 'Good players, all of them,' he said. 'Now, they feel it's their time. We have good memories against England and I still have this dream of playing in the final of Euro 2000.'

These are not dreamers, though. Even if they have not cut the happiest band these past few days, what with their late capitulation to Portugal, Lupescu's public digs at Jenei's selection policy and Ilie's obvious disenchantment at being substituted, they have dealt for too long and capably in the hard realities of international football to feel any inferiority complex tonight.