exactly what the Tricolorii needed

Hope abound as Victor Piţurcă’s Tricolori squad overcame Georgia 2-1 at Dinamo Stadium in Bucureşti. The visitors took the lead at the ten minute with Otar Martsvaladze poaching upon a mix-up between Mirel Rădoi (Steaua Bucureşti) and Bogdan Lobonţ (Dinamo Bucureşti) and although Romania was very aggressive they could not find the leveler. At the break Victor Piţurcă made brilliant statement that all Romanian supporters must commend him for, he brought in twenty-one year-old ‘keeper Costel Pantilimon (FC Timişoara) and twenty-two year-old Adrian Ropotan (Dinamo Bucureşti) in a investment for the future. Down by one, Romania found the equalizer two minutes past the hour mark as Răzvan Cociş (Lokomotiv Moscow) crossed for Ciprian Marica (VfB Stuttgart) who headed the ball to the back of the net. Hungry for the victory in-front of faithful supporters, Dorin Goian (Steaua Bucureşti) scored from five meters out to give the Tricolorii the 2-1 advantage with twenty minutes remaining. For the balance of the match, Romania had full control and held off Georgia for the victory.

România: Lobonţ (’46 Costel Pantilimon) - Ogăraru (’25 Panin), Tamaş (’46 Tanase), Rădoi, Raţ - Lazăr, Tameş - Nicoliţă (’60 G.Bucur), Răzvan Cociş (’46 Adrian Ropotan), Fl. Costea - Marica.

Georgia: Lomaia - Gvinianidze, Kvahadze, Hizanişvili, Salukvadze - Razmadze, Marebaşvili, Kobiaşvili, Odikadze - Martsvaladze, Goţiridze.

ţurcă?

With the Tricolorii stumbling in their first three World Cup qualifying matches and sitting fifth in Group 7, only above uber-minnows Faroes, the possibility of not making it through to South Africa is becoming a very real possibility. As a very cagey Georgian squad enters Dinamo Stadium in Bucureşti, there is a distinct possibility that this is Victor Piţurcă final match as the head of Romania’s national team.

The luxury of using a friendly as a “learning experience” is gone as the Federaţia Română de Fotbal and its supporters are on a short fuse. The miserable start to qualifying which has seen the Tricolorii overwhelmed by Lithuania, a less-than convincing victory over the Faroe Islands and uncharacteristic sloppy defensive play allowing France to draw, makes this a “must-win” match.

However in a solid statement of long-term player development Victor Piţurcă has wisely cast his squad with all but three players from Liga 1. While notables Christian Chivu, Cosmin Contra, Nicolae Dică, Adrian Mutu and Florentin Petre are not included in the squad list, younger players Florin Costea (Universitatea Craiova), Valerică Găman (Universitatea Craiova), Adrian Ropotan (Dinamo Bucureşti), Costel Pantilimon (FC Timişoara) and Cristian Tănase (FC Argeş Piteşti) will play key roles in the match. Whether this means Federaţia is going to take a more patient role with Mr. Piţurcă’s plan remains to be seen but clearly the manager is confident of his younger force and should be applauded for his commitment to the future of Football in Romania.

The Georgian’s are unquestionably an “up and coming” side on the world scene that cannot be ignored. The possess a group with fine pedigree including veteran Levan Kobiashvili (Schalke 04), Lasha Salukvadze (Rubin Kazan) and electrifying young-gun Levan Mchedlidze (Palermo). They will be without veterans Kakha Kaladze (AC Milan), Alexander Iashvili (Karlsruher SC) and Dato Kvirkvelia (Rubin Kazan), David Siradze (Spartak Nalchik) due to injury.

I will report on the match as it concludes.

s squad against Georgia

With results far under-par and Romania dropping to nineteenth in FIFA world rankings Victor Piţurcă is definitely on the hot-seat for results. Ahead of Wednesday’s friendly against Georgia he has named the following squad:

Goalkeeper:Bogdan Lobonţ (FC Dinamo Bucureşti),Costel Pantilimon (FC Timişoara)

Defender: George Ogăraru (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Cristian Panin (CFR 1907 Cluj), Gabriel Tamaş (FC Dinamo Bucureşti), Mirel Rădoi (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Dorin Goian (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Valerică Găman (FC U Craiova), Răzvan Raţ (Shakhtar Donetsk)

Midfielder: Adrian Ropotan (FC Dinamo Bucureşti), Costin Lazăr (FC Rapid Bucureşti), Răzvan Cociş (FC Lokomotiv Moscow), Iulian Tameş (FC Argeş), Cristian Tănase (FC Argeş)

Striker: Bănel Nicoliţă(FC Steaua Bucureşti), Ciprian Marica (VfB Stuttgart), Florin Costea (FC U Craiova), Gheorghe Bucur (FC Timişoara)

still not enough

After jumping to a 2-0 lead with less-than twenty minutes left on the clock, Romania let Les Bleus fight back to a draw in Constanţa. Pouncing upon defensive lapses of the French, Victor Piţurcă’s squad struck first with Florentin Petre strike only six minutes into the match, followed-up by Dorin Goian of Steaua Bucureşti header eleven minutes later. Unfortunately Romania was unable to were unable to cull France’s advancing efforts and methodically they crept back into the defensive match. Eight minutes before the break Franck Ribéry brought the match to within one and after a great deal of tight midfield play, Bordeaux’s Yoann Gourcuff leveled it with twenty-one minutes remaining.

The tough draw leaves Romania with only four points in three matches, two behind Lithuania in second. There will be many tough decisions around the Tricolorii, including speculation of Victor Piţurcă’s future. This result, in which the club failed to kill off a wounded opponent and utilized a highly defensive approach that had them on their back-heels for the majority of the match will prove to be costly points lost. As the club goes forward in a tenuous position of qualifying for the World Cup, changes are in the offing before they meet Serbia next March.

no time to waste

After two very disappointing matches the Tricolorii are perilously close to being in a “must-win” situation. Victor Piţurcă’s squad cannot afford to give up valuable points after the Lithuania debacle as they sit fifth in the group table. Victory in Paris has become a necessity and Cristian Chivu and Adrian Mutu, whether they are recovered one hundred per-cent from injury or not, they will need to play from the heart and push the squad forward.

France’s madcap manager Raymond Domenech is without William Gallas and Ben Arfa and will draw upon Rennes Jimmy Briand and Jean-Alain Boumsong.

With both clubs in very tenuous situations, the losing manager could find himself looking for a new job after the match.

I will report on the match as it concludes.

Tricolorii squad named

The Federaţia Română de Fotbal has named Victor Piţurcă squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Bogdan Lobonţ (FC Dinamo Bucureşti), Costel Pantilimon (FC Timişoara)

Cristian Săpunaru (FC Porto), George Ogăraru (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Gabriel Tamaş (FC Dinamo Bucureşti), George Galamaz (FC Unirea Urziceni), Dorin Goian (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Marius Valerică Găman (FC U Craiova), Răzvan Raţ (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Mihai Neşu (FC Utrecht)

Florentin Petre (FC Terek Grozny), Dorel Stoica (FC U Craiova), Gabriel Mureşan (CFR 1907 Cluj), Răzvan Cociş (FC Lokomotiv Moscow), Iulian Tameş (FC Argeş), Cristian Chivu (FC Internazionale Milano), Marian Aliuţă (FC Vaslui)

Gheorghe Bucur (FC Timişoara), Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina), Florin Costea (FC U Craiova), Bogdan Stancu (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Ciprian Marica (VfB Stuttgart)

squad changes prior to France against match

Leading up to next weekends key World Cup qualifying match, it was revealed that Marius Niculae (Dinamo Bucureşti) will miss the match due to a thigh strain. As of this time the Romanian Football Federation (Federaţia Română de Fotbal) or FIFA have yet to release Victor Piţurcă selections.

For Tricolorii supporters, who would you add? And would you call up any from the U-21 such as Bogdan Stancu (Steaua Bucureşti) or Gabriel Torje (Dinamo Bucureşti)? While there will naturally will be revisions (i.e questions related Adrian Mutu…) the following is the squad list from the prior two matches:

Bogdan Lobonţ Dinamo Bucureşti
Eduard Stăncioiu CFR Cluj

Gabriel Tamaş Dinamo Bucureşti
Sorin Ghionea Steaua Bucureşti
Dorin Goian Steaua Bucureşti
Cosmin Moţi Siena
Cristian Săpunaru FC Porto
Cosmin Contra Getafe
Mihai Neşu Utrecht

Costin Lazăr Rapid Bucureşti
Mirel Rădoi Steaua Bucureşti
Marian Aliuţă FC Vaslui
Paul Codrea A.C. Siena
Răzvan Cociş Lokomotiv Moscow
Nicolae Dică Catania

Florin Costea Universitatea_Craiova
Marius Niculae Dinamo Bucureşti (out due to injury)
Florin Bratu Dinamo Bucureşti
Daniel Niculae AJ Auxerre
Ciprian Marica VfB Stuttgart

not nearly enough

Răzvan Cociş’s goal fifteen minutes after the break saved Romania from the complete disaster of dropping points to the Faroe Islands. While the Romanian squad went on the attack early they could not break through pesky ‘keeper Jakup Mikkelsen and the match went to the half at even.

Unfortunately Dinamo Bucureşti’s Marius Niculae, in a inexcusable foolish moment, lashed out with an elbow at Jón Rói Jacobsen just after the break and received a straight red-card. With a man down and the match tied, it looked the home squad was going to seriously jeopardize the Tricolorii’s World Cup dreams. However at the fifty-ninth minute, Lokomotiv Moscow’s Răzvan Cociş heroics saved the day with a low shot from just outside the area that found the back of the net and Romania the 1-0 lead.

The victory was anything but an easy win and in-fact if wasn’t Bogdan Lobont save in added-time the Faroes would have leveled the match.

Romania returns to action on October 11 against France. By this time the injury situation should be solved. Additionally rumours of Adrian Mutu retiring from International Football will be settled and hopefully be proven false. I will update supporters of this as further details are made available.

Faroe Islands World Cup qualifying match

With Romania still searching for answers on Saturday’s humiliating 3-0 loss to Lithuania in Cluj, Victor Piţurcă’s squad faces the Faroe Islands at Torsvollor Stadium today.

Clearly the Tricolorii must take this match seriously but also use it as a time to re-group and mend battered confidence. Christian Chivu is apparently healthy for his Serie A match this weekend but unfortunately along with Adrian Mutu, Razvan Rat and Florentin Petre is still out.

Catania’s Nicolae Dică, Marius Niculae of Dinamo Bucureşti and Daniel Niculae will have numerous opportunities against the 198th ranked nation, however now is the time to convert and start to put supporters convert.

While it is possible we’ll see Victor Piţurcă juggle the lineup I don’t anticipate significant changes from Saturday’s match:

Bogdan Lobont, Cosmin Contra,Ştefan Radu,Dorin Goian,Cristian Săpunaru,Gabriel Tamaş,Mirel Rădoi,Nicolae Dică,Răzvan Cociş,Daniel Niculae,Ciprian Marica

I will report on the match as it concludes.