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Updated Thursday July 13, 2000, 10:00 PM GMT Bogdan Stelea
This is the fifth major international tournament for Romania's most experienced goalkeeper, who was a non-playing member of his country's Italia 90 World Cup squad. The shaven-haired stopper, who made his international debut at the age of 21, fared better at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, and played twice at Euro 96. He has won league championships in Romania with Steaua Bucharest and, although he now plays in Spain, is widely regarded as the country's number one between the sticks having conceded just three goals in seven Euro 2000 qualifiers. A couple of outstanding stops against Germany confirmed his reputation. Didn't really have much to do against Portugal until the 94th minute goal. Not a bad performance but could have made it more difficult for Michael Owen to score England's second goal. Against Italy he was utterly blameless for the two goals that put Romania out of the championships. In fact, if it wasn't for the veteran Italy could have had a lot more as ten man Romania chased the game. His most notable save came in the second half when he tipped a fierce Inzaghi drive onto a post. The look on the Italians face said it all. Noble performance despite the result.
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