As far as i know Winning eleven 3 and 4 and iss pro evolution 2 work perfectly with epsxe.Didnt tried any other versions though.
Coming back to main topic I hope you tried pressing f4/f5 and also toggling cdrom options.(most likely solutions for hangs).
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E6750, Abit ip35E, XFX 8600GT 256 MB DDR3, Transcend 2GB DDR2 800 RAM