Sports weekend
The national football team's 2026 World Cup qualification season resumes at the end of this week
Florin Orban, 06.06.2025, 13:45
On Saturday in Vienna, the Romanian national football team faces Austria, in the 3rd round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Group H of the European zone.
The season began in March, with a game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, lost by the Romanians in Bucharest 0 to 1. The team did not look as good as in last year’s European Championships. Coach Mircea Lucescu’s students lacked motivation, could not implement any tactics, and the guests did not make enough mistakes to give us any chance of winning.
Next came an away game against San Marino, won by Romania 5-1. The Romanian team struggled a bit in the first half of the game, but everything ended well. Bosnia and Herzegovina continued its good run and won their home match against Cyprus 2-1, to now lead the group standings. Austria has not played any matches yet, so their game against Romania will be their first this season.
At the moment, Austria ranks 22nd in the FIFA standings, while Romania is in position number 45. After the results in March, Romania dropped 7 places compared to the previous ranking. In terms of the world hierarchy, the Austrians would be favorites against Romania, but the math is not always so simple. For example, Romania was 38 places above the ex-Yugoslavs when they were defeated in March by Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After Saturday’s game in Vienna, the national team will return to the country to prepare for the next match in the qualifiers. On Tuesday, in Bucharest, Nicolae Stanciu and his teammates will face Cyprus, which is in 3rd place in Group H, with 3 points thanks to the 2-0 victory against San Marino, in the first round of the qualifiers. (AMP)
