Everton 1 - 0 Dinamo Bucharest [Match Report]

By Simon P
September 30 2005

In the first half the whole side pressed and attacked the ball, and it was embarrassing to be 5-1 down to a side which looked as though it would struggle in the Jewson South Western League, never mind the Uefa Cup. But as usual, pressure failed to turn into goals.

Perhaps expectedly, oh OK, expectedly, Everton's European adventure came to an end at Goodison Park tonight, despite beating Romanian side Dinamo Bucharest 1-0 by way of a Tim Cahill goal.

In the first half the whole side pressed and attacked the ball, and it was embarrassing to be 5-1 down to a side which looked as though it would struggle in the Jewson South Western League, never mind the Uefa Cup. But as usual, pressure failed to turn into goals, and the second half performance failed to reach the level of the first.

Tony Hibbert was replaced by David Weir, and new signing Matteo Ferrari was forced into the right-back position halfway through the first 45. And
Ferrari impressed massively, having the vision to spread the ball to Mikel Arteta who time after time found himself in acres of space on the right screaming for the ball.

One of the few times he was afforded a chance to take advantage of the space, he beat his man three times before throwing a cross onto Duncan Ferguson's head for him to flick down and Tim Cahill to fire home from close range.

The Blues should have gone in at half time leading 2-0, but as usual, Duncan Ferguson was penalised for being in the same time-zone as a goalkeeper, and another legitimate Everton goal was taken from us by a bald, continental referee. They don't like us do they?

In the second half Everton seemed to lose the touch and "quality" that they had been full of during the first period, with the midfield holding too deep and James McFadden constantly failing to read the few flick on's Duncan Ferguson was allowed to win by the referee.

Marcus Bent replaced Nuno Valente, and James Beattie replaced heavy legged Kevin Kilbane, but neither made any positive impact, with Bent missing a close range header towards the end.

In David Moyes' pre-match programme notes, he bemoaned the methods used by some teams to slow matches down, and in particular the amount of time some players seem to spend on the floor "injured" to break a game up. We were "treated" to a fine example of this by Dinamo.

Time after time, player after player, Bucharest rolled and writhed like a
Broadway actor, only to be complaining to the referee about the amount of time he made them stay on the touchline waiting to return to the match, unscathed.

One player who wasn't so lucky was Mikel Arteta, who was subjected to an horrendous assault by Bucharest midfielder Plesan who threw his whole weight into the back of the Spaniard via his elbow, leaving Arteta in a state of spasm on the Goodison turf.

Quite bizarrely, Frenchman Laurent Duhamel deemed the challenge worth only a yellow card, although personally I was amazed he was actually watching the match.

UEFA need to take a long hard look at the referees it sends out to officiate over football matches, and at the very least send out a rule book, or perhaps a clue as to what sport they are involved in.

One, quite ridiculous example of refereeing ineptitude was that, on seeing a Bucharest player on the floor in his own penalty area, Duhamel ran the full length of the pitch to see how he was, ushered on the physio, and then ran the full length of the pitch to book Duncan Ferguson - no conversation with player, or the linesman who was perfectly placed to see any foul, and having quite clearly not seen the incident - questions have to be asked.

A win could go a long way to boost Everton's confidence, a goal for Tim
Cahill will do him the world of good, and Matteo Ferrari looks like he will
become a great Everton player.

A pity it had to come to an end so soon, but it's been an experience being in Europe, and one which we can learn from for the next time.