Romania advance
\nto the semifinals of the European Under-21 Championship having won Group C
\nafter defeating Croatia 4-1 and England 4-2 and a goalless draw against France.
\nThese results have also secured Romania’s ticket to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
\nThe last time Romania qualified for the Olympic Games was also in Tokyo, in
\n1964, when they made it to the quarterfinals. This will be Romania’s fourth
\nparticipation in the Olympic Games in football, after 1924, 1952 and 1964. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The recent
\nachievement in Italy is the biggest in the history of Under-21 football in
\nRomania. It is the result of efforts that began with Gheorghe Hagi’s football
\nacademy, which has supplied ten of the players in the Romanian Under-21 side,
\nincluding Ianis Hagi, the son the great Romanian player. This was accompanied,
\nat the level of Romanian football, by an obligation imposed on big teams to
\npromote young players. A rule was established in League One that each side
\nshould have an under-21 player on the pitch at all times, a rule that made a
\nlot of people unhappy, but which has yielded results. We should also not
\noverlook the role played by the team’s current manager, the 38-year-old former
\ninternational player Mirel Radoi. The side owe him their solid, free-flowing
\nand aggressive play, which matches the players’ talent. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the semifinals
\nof the European Under-21 Championship held on Thursday in Bologna, Romania will
\nbe facing the defending champions, the redoubtable German side. Although they
\nare the underdog, the Romanian players are optimistic and believe they can make
\nit to the final. Defender Ionut Nedelcearu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We’ve wanted
\nthis very much, we’ve worked extremely hard and we fully deserve this place in
\nthe semifinals. My teammates and I have believed from the very start that we can
\nmake it this far because we know what we’re capable of. Tonight we’ll celebrate
\nthe qualification for the semifinals and tomorrow we’ll think what to do about
\nGermany, because I believe we can also eliminate Germany.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the other
\nsemifinal, France are taking on Spain, also on Thursday, in Reggio Emilia. The
\nfinal is scheduled for Sunday in Udine, on the Dacia Arena stadium. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania reach the semifinals of the European Under-21 Championship hosted by Italy and San Marino.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":82341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29134],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-82340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-football"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n