Football Flash

Click here for a look ahead at the most eagerly awaited event this coming weekend, the football match pitting Romanias national squad against Poland.

Florin Orban, 10.11.2016, 14:15

The fixture counts towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries and kick starts in Bucharest, on Friday at 9.45 PM, local time.

The Romanians are in dire need of a win in the game against Poland, as their Group E record sheet so far includes only one win against Armenia and two draws in fixtures against Montenegro and Kazakhstan. With five points, Romania is 3rd placed in the group. Montenegro is at the top of the table, while Poland is the runner-up team. Each team has seven points on their record sheet.

For this Friday’s game Poland ranks as favorite, since for one year now they have had a win-only record. The last defeat sustained by Poland was in Frankfurt, in September 2015. Back then, it was defeated by Germany, 3-1, in the European Championship preliminaries. At the final tournament, Poland reached as far as the quarterfinals, where they drew against Portugal, eventually conceding defeat after the penalty shootouts. We recall Portugal won the European Championship.

Head-to-heads reveal that Romania has not conceded defeat to Poland for 27 years. In Warsaw in 1989, Poland grabbed a 2-1 win against Romania in a friendly confrontation. Since 1989 and up to present, Romania has taken on Poland six times, succeeding four wins and two draws. The last two friendly games pitting Romania against Poland were hosted by the city of Warsaw, in April 2002 and November 2009, respectively. Back then, Romania grabbed two wins, 2-1 and 1-nil, respectively.(Translated by Eugen Nasta)