Portugal booked a place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2000 when substitute Costinha grabbed an injury-time goal to defeat Group A rivals Romania 1-0 here Saturday.
After a dire match, where there seemed little prospect of a goal for either side, Portugal won a late freekick in the fourth minute of injury time.
Luis Figo floated the ball into the Romanian penalty area and Costinha's header found the back of the net with Romania goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea stranded.
Costinha's strike was greeted with jubilation on the Portuguese bench and came as time had virtually run out - the fourth official had just signalled for four minutes of injury time.
Romania barely had time to kick off before French referee Gilles Veissiere blew for time and now the Romanians need to beat England and hope Group A winners Portugal see off the German challenge if they are to progress.
Portugal join Italy, France and Holland in the quarter-finals.
"It's a great joy to have given my team and my country a victory which takes them to the quarter-finals. It's fantastic. My header? I can't say anything in particular. I saw the ball coming and I just headed it with all the power I could muster," said Costinha.
Portugal's coach Humberto Coelho said: "It was a very tough match for us. We had a lot of luck to score the goal in the last minute and to win the game.
"Our victory against England raised great expectations. Today's was a totally different match, however."
His Romanian opposite number Emerich Jenei said: "It was a match with two very evenly-matched teams. It was not much of a spectacle but it was interesting.
"Unfortunatley we lost it in the last minute, in fact practically in the last seconds."
Goalmouth incidents were hard to come by in a match that was set to vie with the Turkey v Sweden 0-0 draw in Group B for the dubious accolade of most boring match of the tournament until Costinha's late decider
Minutes before the goal, Romanian inspiration Gheorghe Hagi produced a rare moment of inspiration in the second half with a long-range shot tipped over by Portuguese goalkeeper Vitor Baia in the 86th minute.
Hagi will be ruled out of the must-win fixture with England after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament and this match may well be the last of his illustious career for the national team - he has said he will quit the Romanian team after Euro 2000.
The breathtaking Portuguese football that had defeated England 3-2 in their Group A opener was noticeable only by its absence and after 57 minutes Coelho made a double substitution with Ricardo Sa Pinto and Sergio Conceicao replacing Nuno Gomes and Joao Pinto.
His later replacement - withdrawing Manuel Rui Costa for Costinha - proved decisive although the goal came from route one rather than the fluent football that marked the England win.
Romania coach Emerich Jenei also made changes with Florentin Petre and Ionel Ganea replacing Dan Petrescu and Moldovan and Dumitru Rosu stepping in for Andrew Ilie.
Portugal put Romania in the shade and dominated the first half with Nuno Gomes firing an early shot wide after being set up by Figo.
In the second period Portugal fared less well and threatened rarely.
Fernando Couto set up a good opportunity for Sa Pinto but the striker headed straight at Stelea who had another poor game in the Romanian goal and whose positioning was questionable for Costinha's strike -- (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
