RRI Sports Club – Football
Romania has won 2-0 the home match against Cyprus in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Ștefan Baciu, 11.06.2025, 13:45
The Romanian national football team won the match against Cyprus, in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, a match played on Tuesday evening on National Arena stadium in Bucharest. With only three points obtained from the matches against Bosnia Herzegovina, San Marino and Austria, the Romanian footballers desperately needed a win, in order to still hope to qualify to the World Cup next year, hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. In addition, the Romanian footballers had just sustained a 1-2 defeat against Austria on Saturday away from home, putting on a poor display of football, with the home team dominating the game after scoring two goals. The goal scored by Florin Tănase in the last minute of the match was a morale booster, ahead of the following matches. In fact, the coach of the Romanian national team, Mircea Lucescu, admitted that Austria deserved the win, describing it as “the stronger, more homogeneous team”.
In the first half of the match against Cyprus, the Romanian players held the possession, but without too many scoring opportunities. At the end of the first half, more precisely on minute 43, after a corner kick from Cyprus, Vlad Chiricheş launched a counterattack to Dennis Man, who passed to Florin Tănase, who scored. In the extra time of the first half, Dennis Man scored for Romania, taking the score to 2-0, which remained unchanged until the final whistle.
The man of the match was right-winger Dennis Man, who has not played much for his team, Parma, recently, and who had a subpar performance in the match against Austria. The over 45 thousand Romanian fans on National Arena went home with the hope that Romania can qualify to 2026 World Cup.
After the 2-0 win, coach Mircea Lucescu said that these three points are essential for building a new national team. He emphasized that he is not interested in the criticism that have come recently because of the results, his goal being to create a strong national team, made up of players from the domestic championship.
After the victory against Cyprus, Romania is currently in 3rd place in Group H, with 6 points, the same as the team in second place, Austria, although separated by a better goal average ratio. Topping the group tables is Bosnia Herzegovina, with 9 points, the maximum number of points in the three matches played so far. Cyprus ranks 4th, with 3 points, followed by San Marino, with 0 points.
Romania will next play Cyprus away from home on September 9, and then Canada in a friendly match, on September 5 in Bucharest. (VP)
