| A RISK-FREE GAME (17.11.2007) |
| (2007-11-16) |
| Last updated: 2007-11-19 14:29 EET |
Two years ago, at the start of the qualification games for the 2008 European Football Cup, few dared hope that Romania would manage to secure its qualification before the end of the qualification stage. After a slow start, when the Romanian team drew with Bulgaria at home, it looked like difficult times were ahead for Romania. Its opponents included Holland, one of the best teams in Europe, which had already defeated Romania twice in the qualification games for the 2006 World Cup.
Another difficult game in store was the match against Slovenia, which had eliminated Romania from the race for the World Cup in 2002. The other two teams in the group, Albania and Belarus, were no less capable of producing good results. The Romanian manager Victor Piturca stuck, however, to his action plan and formed a team without giving in to pressure from clubs and the media. Piturca demanded discipline and reliability from his players, both on the pitch and off it. The results were soon to appear.
After an unfortunate draw with Bulgaria, Romania won all the following games, with the exception of the away match with Holland in Rotterdam, which ended in a draw. With only two more games to go, Romania has thus managed to secure its qualification and is leading its group, being three points ahead of Holland and seven ahead of Bulgaria. Under the circumstances, Saturday’s game against Bulgaria in Sofia is more of a training game for the Romanian players. The only importance of the game involves the possible points that can be taken into account when calculating the UEFA coefficients, used for the qualification and seeding of teams for the European Cup and other competitions.
(Florin Orban)
|
2025-04-03
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