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Florin Orban, 02.03.2017, 11:44
ACS Poli Timişoara and Dinamo Bucureşti are the finalists of the 2016 — 2017 Football League Cup. In the semifinals, Poli outclassed ASA Targu Mures, with a double-leg win in the tie, 4-2 and 3-1 respectively, with the return leg being played this past Tuesday in Timisoara. Poli’s Brazilian footballer Pedro Henrique scored on 17 and 27 minutes. The ball centered by Poli’s Croat player Josip Fucek enabled Enrique to provide the opener for the game, while the ball shot from the edge of the box touched the net for the second time. Poli Timisoara’s third goal came on 65 minutes, thanks to Gabriel Canu’s header which was made possible by Fucek’s free kick. Scoring for ASA Targu Mures was Andrei Sin, who on 48 minutes shot into the far post.
The second semifinal was played on Wednesday, when 20,000 football fans had the opportunity to watch Romanian football’s all-time rivals, Steaua and Dinamo, pitted against each other on the National Arena in Bucharest. In the first leg Dinamo trounced Steaua, 4-1. Dinamo footballers were definitely better in the return leg as well, as Steaua’s manager Laurenţiu Reghecampf admitted. Dinamo first scored on 37 minutes, when Sergiu Hanca served Dan Nistor, taking advantage of a mistake made by Steaua’s goalie Florin Nita as he kicked the ball into play.
Steaua scored the equalizer on 64 minutes when Denis Alibec was granted a penalty kick because of Steliano Filip’s foul on Florin Tanase. On 71 minutes Dinamo succeeded to take the lead for the second time around, as the ball centered by Spanish Jose Antonio Romera Navarro made possible the volley shot performed by Patrick Petre. The fate of the game was sealed on 82 minutes when Hanca turned into a goal the penalty kick granted to Dinamo because of Mihai Balasa’s foul on Patrick Petre.
For the record, it was Dinamo Bucharest’s third win running in a fixture against Steaua, a team that as of late has failed to find their own pace of the pitch.
