Romania now meet Croatia in the second round in Bordeaux on Tuesday thanks to a 72nd minute goal by Moldovan, who had come on just five minutes earlier.

The Romanians had dyed their hair yellow, one of the colours of the national flag, to celebrate their success in securing a place in the last 16. Coach Anghel Iordanescu had reportedly promised in turn to shave his head if they won the group.

They made five changes to their starting line-up, missing suspended defender Iulian Filipescu but resting a number of other key players including strikers Adrian Ilie and Moldovan.

But any hopes of a stroll on a warm Parisian evening were quickly dashed.

Tunisia, backed by noisy support in the Stade de France, scored their first goal of the tournament after 10 minutes. Romanian defender Christian Dulcawrestled striker Adel Sellimi to the ground and Skander Souayah converted the resulting penalty. The speedy Tunisian attackers constantly threatened the Romanian defence in the first half.

Tunisia had sacked coach Henryk Casperczak earlier in the week, placing Ali Selmi in temporary charge and their spirited performance was a great improvement on earlier losses to England and Colombia. Romania's Iordanescu was forced to bring experienced sweeper Gheorghe Popescu off the bench after just half an hour in a bid to bolster his struggling defence.

Ilie came on at half-time and shot across the face of the goal on the 54th minute before forcing goalkeeper Chokri el-Ouaer into a brave save on the hour.

Moldovan, a goalscorer in the impressive 2-1 win over England, came on for the last quarter as Romania grabbed the equaliser they wanted. El-Ouaer failed to smother a cross from Ilie and as the ball looped back into the area with el-Ouaer out of position Moldovan fired home from 10 metres.