Worldcup 1998 : Friendly Games - Israel 1 / Romania 0 , March 18, 1998.

ISRAEL 1 / ROMANIA 0, March 18, 1998.

Israel beats Romania 1-0 in World Cup warmup

BUCHAREST, March 18, 1998 (AP).

Romania, one of the seeded teams at this summer's World Cup finals, suffered a stunning 1-0 loss to Israel in a warmup match Wednesday.

Alon Mizrahi scored the only goal in the 13th minute when he pounced on a ball misplayed by defender Cristian Dulca a few meters (yards) outside the penalty area.

Romania produced a modest performance, and although it was offensive-minded, its attacks were plagued by inaccuracies.

The game confirmed Romanian coach's Anghel Iordanescu fears that most of his top players are out of shape.

"Some of them don't have consistence and continuity in games," Iordanescu told reporters Tuesday, referring to players who play outside Romania.

Valencia's Adrian Ilie, Gheorghe Popescu from Galatasaray Istanbul and Steaua's Marius Lacatus -- some of Romania's stars -- fought hard but failed to find the way to Israel's net.

Romanian star Gheorghe Hagi, who plays for Galatasaray Istanbul, missed the game due to an old injury.

Israel could have even won by a bigger score, when a ball blasted by Jan Talasnikov from 30 meters (yards) was barely diverted to corner by goalkeeper Dumitru Stangaciu.

The game was the first in a a series of warmup matches for Romania before the World Cup finals in France this summer, where the Romanians are the seeded team in Group G with England, Colombia and Tunisia.