FRANCE 98 – Romania-England – G. Hoddle: “We should have punished them, but they punished us”

Glenn HODDLE, ENGLAND coach:

“After coming back into the game, we are disappointed to lose at the end. But we gave away two sloppy goals and it cost us. At the end of the day, it was a stalemate situation, like a chess game. One of the positive points was Mike OWEN’s entry into the game and scoring. At 1 – 0 down, and when you’re a substitute, you have nothing to lose. I gave him a free run and told him to go out and enjoy himself. The ROMANIA team had a very good side, but we didn’t create ourselves a chance and gave away two sloppy goals. David SEAMAN didn’t make much of a save. We kept them at bay, but we had sloppy defending. We should have punished them, but they punished us, and we were disappointed. The next game will be decisive against COLOMBIA who also has three points. It was a good win for them; they knew what to do. If we win or draw the next game, then we qualify. The boys are disappointed about how we gave two goals away, but not with the way we played. If we play like that again, we’ll win more games than we’ll lose.”