Sports weekend

The latest from football

Florin Orban, 27.11.2020, 13:45

Romanian football team CFR Cluj’s chances to go
through to the European spring have diminished as on Thursday, CFR
sustained a home defeat by AS Rome. In a fixture counting towards Europa
league, CFR Cluj conceded a nil-2 defeat by their Italian opponents, and are
now 3rd placed in Group A. In Cluj, both goals of the guest team
were scored in the second half of the match. On 49 minutes, CFR’s Croat
footballer Gabriel Debeljuh deflected in CFR’s posts the ball shot by the
French footballer Jordan Veretout through a freekick. Then in minute 67, Roma’s
Armenian footballer Henrikh Mhitaryan and
CFR’s goalie Cristian Bălgrădean clashed, so AS Roma were granted a penalty
kick Veretout turned into a goal. In the group’s other game, Swiss team Young
Boys Berne grabbed a 1-nil away defeat against TSKA Sofia. AS Rome are at the
top of the table in Group A, with 1o points and have already booked their
ticket for Europa League’ s round of 32. Young Boys Berne are the runner-up
team, with 7 points, while CFR Cluj are 3rd-placed, with 4 points.
TSKA Sofia are 4th placed, with 1 point on their record sheet. On
December 3rd, AS Rome will next play Young Boys Berne on home turf,
while CFR play TSKA Sofia, also on home ground. If they still want to qualify
for the European spring, CFR Cluj are in dire need of a win in the match against
TSKA Sofia. Under the circumstances, the last-round match against Young Boys
Berne could the decide the team that makes headway into the Europa league.

The Romanian national football team has skipped 7 positions and is now 37th-placed according to the International
Football Federation’s rankings. Therefore, Romania will be in the second pot of
the drawing of lots for the European preliminary groups ahead of the for 2022
edition of the World Cup. Romania’s progress has occurred due to the team’s
results in November: a 5-3 win in the friendly against Belarus, a 3-nil win
”at the green table against Norway”, counting towards UEFA Nations League,
and a 1-all draw against Ireland, also in UEFA Nations League.

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