Football Club

The latest from Romanian football

Florin Orban, 31.08.2017, 13:44

The next couple of days will be decisive for Romania’s national football squad, as the Romanians have their last chance to qualify to next year’s World Cup held in Russia. Also, depending on the results, the team’s technical management may be changed.

Romania will be up against Armenia on Friday on home turf while on Monday in Podgorica, it will play against Montenegro. The Romanians are now 4th ranked in group E, with only 6 points collected in 6 matches. Romania only won the away match against Armenia, in October 2016, lost two other matches and ended another three in a draw. Romania is now 10 points behind the group leader Poland and 4 points behind Denmark and Montenegro, which compete for the 2nd place in the group. Under these circumstances, Romania must win both matches on Friday and Monday, or risk losing any chance to qualify to the World Cup.

The manager of the Romanian national team, the German Christoph Daum, is once again betting mostly on footballers playing for foreign teams. However, Daum’s decision to select 15 of the 24-team members from among the ones playing abroad and to leave out good footballers from the domestic championship, such as Denis Alibec and Constantin Budescu from FCSB, has triggered the criticism of the Romanian team’s supporters. Budescu has only been put on an additional list of prospective substitutes, in case one of the regulars becomes unavailable due to injuries. Romania’s next fixture against Kazakhstan will be held on home turf in the town of Ploiesti on October 5th while the one against Denmark will be held on November 8th in Copenhagen.