A Look back at Romanian Football in 2014

We need to take the rough with the smooth if we look back at Romanian football in 2014.

Florin Orban, 05.01.2014, 13:44

We need to take the rough with the smooth if we look back at Romanian football in 2014. The Romanian national squad had a very good run in the Euro 2016 qualifiers and at the end of the year they found themselves on top position in preliminary Group F and on position 15 in world rankings. However, none of the Romanian club teams managed to make headway into the European spring.

We begin our look back at Romanian football with inter-club competitions. In the European spring, Romania had no representative, as in late 2013 Steaua only managed to secure an unassuming 4th position in the Champions League’s Group E, while Pandurii Targu Jiu also came 4th in Europa League’s group E.

Steaua Bucharest is the winner of the 2013-2014 edition of Romania’s domestic championship which ended in May, with 77 points. Astra Giurgiu came on the runner-up position, with 72 points. In Romania’s Cup final, however, Astra secured a vigorous comeback, clinching a 4-2 win after the penalty shootout, although they were rated as underdogs in the game against Steaua. We recall that after regular and extra time, the scoreboard pointed to a blank draw.

Steaua and Astra also gave the start for the winter-summer season, as they were pitted against one another in Romania’s Super Cup. On July 11 on the National Arena, the scoreboard pointed to a 1-all draw after regular time. No goal was scored after extra time, while after the penalty shootout Astra secured a 5-3 win.

In the 2014-2015 season of League One’s domestic championship Steaua had an excellent run again, as they ended the home series on top position, with 43 points, being no less than nine points clear of the runner-up team CFR from Cluj.

Romania had four sides in the European cups. Steaua Bucharest made it through to the Champions League preliminaries, while CFR Cluj, Petrolul Ploiesti and Astra played in the Europa League qualifiers. Steaua managed to eliminate the Norwegian champions Stromsgodset and Aktobe, the champions of Kazakhstan, but were stopped in their tracks by Bulgaria’s champions Ludogoret Razgrad, after conceding a one-nil defeat at home and a one-nil defeat in Sofia; the points were sealed in the penalty shootout. The Romanian champions later played in the Europa League, ranking third in Group J, after Dinamo Kiev and Aalborg of Denmark and ahead Portuguese side Rio Ave. In the Europa League, Astra defeated Czech side Slovan Liberec and clinched a surprising result against French side Olympique Lyon, two-one away and nil-one at home. However, in the league’s D group, the Romanian side ranked 4th after Red Bull Salzburg, Celtic Glasgow and Dinamo Zagreb. Also in Europa League, Petrolul Ploiesti obtained a win against the Albanians from Flamurtari Vlora; they next met Czech side Viktoria Plzen, which they eliminated after a one-all draw at home and a four-nil away win. Sadly, a double defeat in the play-offs against Dinamo Zagreb blew away their chances for a place in the next round of the competition.

CFR Cluj had the shortest-lived presence in the European cups. They secured a victory against Serbian side Jagodina, but were eliminated after having conceded a double defeat to Byelorussian side Dinamo Minsk.

For Romania’s national squad 2014 was an excellent year. The season kick-off promisingly, with a friendly match against Argentina. Played at home on National Arena stadium in front of a 45-thousand strong crowd, the match ended in a blank draw. Romania then played another two friendly matches. On May 31, Romania eased past Albania 1-nil, while on June 4th it lost narrowly 2-1 to Algeria, a team qualified to the World Cup in Brazil.

In September, Romania kicked off the qualifying campaign for the 2016 European Championships to be held in France. In Piraeus, Romania secured an important 1-nil away in over Greece. In October, Victor Piturca’s trainees played another two matches. In Bucharest, the team drew against Hungary 1-all, then won against Finland away from home, 2-nil. Victor Piturca then stepped down, being replaced at the helm of the first team by Anghel Iordanescu.

In November, Romania took 1st place in Group F after defeating Northern Ireland in Bucharest 2-nil. The year ended with a 2-nil home win in the friendly match against Denmark. It’s also worth mentioning the substantial improvement in FIFA standings for Romania in 2014. From being ranked 32nd in December 2013, Romania is now ranked 15th.