England's World Cup challenge is on hold and a nation holds its collective breath after calamity overtook Glenn Hoddle's team in the closing minutes of last night's game in Toulouse.

Only 15 seconds of normal time remained and almost everybody in the Municipal Stadium had settled for the draw. The notable exception was Chelsea's Romanian international Dan Petrescu who somehow conjured up the running power to match his vision in making contact with Dorinel Munteanu's pass at a stage when others were barely moving.

Even then, there was still a lot of work to be done, but Petrescu shook off the challenge of his clubmate, Graham Le Saux, and then added insult to injury by putting the ball through David Seaman's legs.

Even then, the drama was not yet over. Michael Owen, who scored England's equaliser within 10 minutes of replacing Teddy Sheringham, found the long arm of opportunity reaching out to him for a second time as he raced on a long pass down the centre in injury time.

Tiring Romanian legs couldn't get to him before he struck the shot at speed from outside the penalty area, but cruelly for England, it struck the butt of the post and bounced back into play.

Just two minutes later, Hoddle was leaving the pitch with the look of a man with an appointment with the gallows. At best, they now seem headed for a meeting with Argentina in the first phase of the knockout competition.

At worst, they could be on their way home after Friday's meeting with Colombia, a harsh fate for a team which picked itself off the floor after conceding a goal within two minutes of the restart to dominate the remainder of the second half.

"I'm not disappointed with our performance - only the two sloppy goals we gave away," said Hoddle. "Those were two bad goals to concede and in the end we paid a big price for it.

"We got ourselves into some good scoring positions but didn't punish the Romanians. They get one break late in the game and it cost us two points we didn't deserve to lose."

Anghel Iordanescu, the Romanian coach who scored the decisive goal the last time they beat England in a World Cup, forsook his usual phlegmatic mannerisms to pour praise on the players who had battled so bravely for him.

"They had the will to win and for me that was the most pleasing thing of all. They never lost their spirit even when England increased the pressure and I think they deserved to come out of the game with a win. There will be a lot of joy back in Romania this evening."

It was a remarkable game in a truly remarkable setting in which the French crowd joined a tiny band of Romanian supporters to ensure that the vocal support from the stands wasn't all for the men in white shirts.

For much of the first half, it was little more than a fascinating chess game played on a football pitch, but once Viorel Moldovan had put Romania ahead, it became a captivating spectacle.

That England lost was a vague miscarriage of justice. True, they didn't defend with the vigilance required at this level and it's easy to suggest that Hoddle sent out the wrong team in the first instance.

Undeniably, however, the change which brought David Beckham into the team in place of Paul Ince improved the balance in midfield and the manner in which Owen scavenged his goal when given his belated chance suggested that he, rather than the disappointing Sheringham, should have been in from the start.

With Ince and David Batty filling the central roles in midfield, the requisite support for the front men was never forthcoming in the opening half hour. Beckham's aggressive running redressed the situation.

Yet again, however, their defence was less than composed. Adams seldom inspired confidence and alongside him, Sol Campbell was nowhere nearly as effective as in the win over Tunisia.

It was Adams who had to carry much of the responsibility for Romania's first goal. Unable to adjust when Gheorghe Hagi nudged on Gheorghe Popescu's throw-in, he could only stand and watch forlornly as Moldovan took the ball past him to score from no more than three yards. Inevitably, however, the biggest criticism directed at the England manager last night was his decision to keep Owen on the bench until the game was almost out of reach. There are those who say that at 18, England's youngest ever international is too immature for 90 minutes at this level. Now it is difficult to see how he can be left out for that crunch meeting with Colombia.

His goal was a striking example of his superb reflexes in and around the six-yard area. There were four Romanian defenders around to smother the threat when Alan Shearer knocked the ball back in the 84th minute, but he still managed to get among them and dispatch the ball past Bogdan Stelea.

In terms of technique, there was never much doubt that Romania were the superior side. With Hagi in decline they now look for alternative rallying points and in players like Munteanu, Constantin Galca, the powerful Gheorghe Poescu in defence and, not least, Adrian lie, they have them in abundance.

In a first half in which scoring chances would drop out of the defences with all the frequency of snow in high summer the early signs were positively misleading.

First Gheorghe Popescu was forced to make a goalline clearance after his goalkeeper had spilled Darren Anderton's cross and, then, as the England central defenders backed off Viorel Moldovan, Adrian Ilie's snap shot drifted harmlessly wide.

It was a false dawn.