Euro 2000 quarter final - Italy v Romania Preview

Italy coach Dino Zoff is to play the attack that all his squad looks built to showcase as his side faces Romania in the Euro 2000 quarter final in Brussels.

While out of form Juventus striker Filippo Inzaghi is set to retain his place in the front line Zoff will play Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero alongside in the hope of running an ageing Romanian team out of the competition.

Del Piero scored a great goal against Sweden last week but his overall game was not impressive.

However, Zoff is now prepared to test the attacking will of his Euro 200 squad where defensive midfielders dominate his selections and use Del Piero and Totti to help Inzaghi who could play as a lone striker.

Zoff over loaded his 22 man unit for the Euro finals by including hard tackling midfield runners hell bent on helping the defence. Now the knockout phase has been reached after three wins Totti and Del Piero will be used to create chances in a move that could see Italy easily break down a Romanian team that has been hit by injuries and suspensions.

Although Romania welcome back Gheorghe Hagi the 35 year old genius will be harassed out of the match by Luigi Di Biagio and Demetrio Albertini and he is unlikely to last the entire game.

Romania have also lost Gheorghe Popescu from their defence and he is as influential for the back line as Hagi is up front. Right midfield will be weakened by the loss of experienced Dan Petrescu and Adrian Ilie is also suspended ripping three regular players out of the Romanian squad.

Coach Emerich Jenei will look to Chivu and young striker Mutu to help make chances with Munteanu retaining his place on the left hand side. But in defence veteran Belodedici is replacing Popescu and when that happened in the win over England last Tuesday Romania conceded two goals to a weak England team that attacked them through the middle.

Both Inzaghi and Totti will be looking to occupy central attacking positions and take advantage of the presence of Belodedici. Romania will rely on their passing game and they could make Italy look ordinary in midfield but Romania will not be strong enough to hold out against Italian attacks and have no certain finisher of their own to hope about when they are put under pressure.

Half Time score - 0-0

Full Time score - Italy 2 Romania 0

First scorer - Francesco Totti

Number of corners - 10