Sports Weekend

Steliu Lambru, 12.11.2021, 08:14

Romania’s national football team on
Thursday drew 0-0 against Iceland on Steaua Bucharest stadium in the 2022 World
Cup preliminaries. To finish in second place, Romania must defeat Liechtenstein
in the last fixture of Group J, whereas Iceland must not lose against North
Macedonia. Romania missed a few good scoring opportunities, the biggest of which
was on minute 85 when Ianis Hagi’s shot hit the post from 20 meters. Headcoach
Mirel Rădoi said that right now Romanian football is not ready to reach the
World Cup. Overall, tonight we didn’t play like a team that deserves to play
the playoffs. We had our good moments as well and maybe we deserved to win, but
we didn’t play like a team deserving to be in second place, Rădoi concluded.

In the other fixtures of Group J,
North Macedonia defeated Armenia 5-0 away from home, while Germany trounced
Liechtenstein 9-0. The last matches will be played on Sunday: Armenia will play
Germany, North Macedonia will play Iceland while Liechtenstein will take on
Romania.

This Saturday, Romania’s national
rugby team is playing the Netherlands in the last fixture of 2021 Rugby Europe
Championship. The match will be played on the Triumphal Arch stadium in Bucharest
and will count towards the 2023 World Cup qualifiers. Romania’s headcoach, Andy
Robinson, says it is key Romania wins the match considering it is playing on
home turf. A total of 32 players have been called up to the squad. 6 more players
were added after the match against Uruguay. (VP)