This was supposed to be the game that took England into the second phase.

After the Tunisia result the media seemed convinced Glenn Hoddle's boys would stroll through against Romania.

How wrong they were. But instead of blaming Hoddle, Kevin Keegan must take some of the blame for this result.

"There's only one team going to win this now. Romania will be happy with a draw," said the Fulham boss after Michael Owen had put England level.

If there's one comment destined to spell disaster then that would be it. And so it proved.

Right on cue, that team who would happily settle for a draw snatched all three points with just a minute to go.

The ITV commentary team of Brian Moore and Keegan struggled from the start to inject any sort of life into an awful game. They seemed content to let the football do the talking - and the game certainly spoke volumes for England's hopes of World Cup success.

Had media darling Owen not given Moore and Keegan something to get excited about, fans might as well have watched this game with the sound turned off.

Keegan's biggest input seemed to be building up a case for the earlier inclusion of Owen and David Beckham, and criticising decisions made by Hoddle.

At least half-time comments from Bobby Robson can be considered valid, after all, the former England manager knows what it's all about.

But since the Newcastle experience, Keegan's only achievement has been failing to get Fulham out of the second division. He is in no position to criticise!

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.