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Romania have been drawn into the “Group of Death” along with Italy, France, and the Netherlands and it will be a tough task to better their best ever record at the European Championships, reaching the quarter-finals at the Euro 2000 in Belgium and Netherlands. However, they did it then in a group that featured Portugal, England and Germany, so don’t count them out.
Romania impressed in the qualifying, securing their place at the Euro 2008 with two games to spare. They finished on top of Group G, three points in front of the Netherlands.
The Team:
Although coach Victor Piturca likes a more attacking style of play, he will most certainly be very careful and reinforce the back lines.
Goalkeeper Bodgan Lobond (Dinamo Bucharest) looks certain for the position, and in front of him Piturca has centre-backs Dorin Goian (Steaua Bucharest) and Gabriel Tamas (Auxerre), and captain Cristian Chivu (Inter), who has at times been also deployed in the midfield. Rat-Dinca (Shakhtar Donetsk) and Cosmin Contra (Getafe) are the most serious candidates for the left and right back.
The front-runners for the midfield positions seem to be Mirel Radoi (Steaua Bucharest), Razvan Cocis (Lokomotiv Moscow), Nicolae Dica (Steaua Bucharest), who scored 4 goals in the qualifying, and Florentin Petre (CSKA Sofia). Paul Codrea (Siena), Banel Nicolita (Steaua Bucharest) and Adrian Cristea (Dinamo Bucharest) also made the final line-up.
At the front, leading the way is Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu, who is having possibly the best season of his career in Serie A. Mutu scored 6 goals for Romania during the qualifiers and if Romania is to have any chance, Mutu will have to be at his best.
Coach Piturca also has Ciprian Marica (Shakhtar Donetsk), who scored 5 goals in the qualifying.
Coach Profile:
In his second spell as the coach of the Romanian National Team, Victor Piturca will finally lead his team at a major tournament after he missed the Euro 2000 although he was the coach responsible of getting Romania there.
Among the most notable moments of his career was winning the European Cup ( today’s UEFA Champions League) as a player with Steaua Bucharest in the season of 1985-86.
He had 165 goals in 175 games during his stay with the team..
Team Record:
This will be Romania’s 4th appearance at the European Championships. Their best result is reaching the quarter-finals at the Euro 2000 in Belgium and Netherlands, where their campaign ended with a 2-0 loss to Italy.
Romania also has 7 appearances to date at the FIFA World Cup.
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