RRI Sports Club
Florin Orban, 07.10.2020, 12:09
Romania are facing Iceland on Thursday in Reykjavik in
a play-off semifinal to qualify for the European Championship. It’s going to be
a difficult match for Romania, as Iceland have good players, many of whom are
playing in some of Europe’s strongest championships.
Among the players selected for this match by the
Romanian manager Mirel Rădoi is Mario Camora, the captain of the Romanian
champions CFR Cluj. Born in Portugal, Camora, who has been playing for CFR since
2011, got his Romanian citizenship on 2nd September and can thus play
for the national side. Other players selected include Răzvan Marin from Cagliari,
Alexandru Mitriţă from New York City, and Claudiu Keşeru from Ludogorets
Razgrad. Last-minute selections include Cristian Manea from CFR Cluj and Mihai
Bălașa from Universitatea Craiova. Manea will be replacing Vlad Chiricheș, who is
carrying an injury. Bălașa is replacing Ionuț Nedelcearu who was unable to go through
the UEFA protocol for Covid-19 because he is in the process of being transferred
from the Russian side Ufa to the Greek side AEK Athens.
The referees for the Romania vs Iceland match are from
Slovenia and will be led by Damir Skomina assisted by Jure Praprotnik and Rober
Vukan, with Rade Obrenovic as the fourth referee. 44-year old Damir Skomina
refereed a match played by the Romanian national side in 2016 when Romania
played Poland in the World Cup preliminaries, a match Romania lost nil-3.
If they win against Iceland, Romania will play the European
Championship play-off final on the 12th November, facing either Bulgaria
or Hungary.
