That day. Sunday 3rd July 1994 happened legendary match between Romania and Argentina on Rose Bowl, Pasadena. Let’s start with the nuts and bolts behind a remarkable game played at an unremarkable competition stage. Romania had qualified for the knockout stages by topping their group and catching the eye with their dazzlingly telepathic counter-attacking play. By contrast, Argentina had just squeezed through by the skin of their teeth as a third-place qualifier, yet still approached this tie as favorites thanks to their historical pedigree and heavyweight reputation. The billing of the game as Maradona v the Maradona of the Carpathians (as Gheorghe Hagi was known in certain quarters) lost one of its headline acts three days before the fixture in Pasadena when Diego was expelled from the tournament after testing positive for banned stimulants. Claudio Caniggia was also unavailable, but Argentina could still name an enviable makeshift attack that featured the...
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