Sports Weekend
A look ahead at the main sporting events this weekend
Steliu Lambru, 15.11.2019, 13:45
On Thursday Romania’s
under-21 football team defeated Finland 4-1 in Group 8 of the European
Championship preliminaries. Romania has thus climbed in top position in the
ground tables with 9 points in four matches.
The Romanian
national football team on Friday is playing Sweden in the 2020 European
Championship preliminaries. Romania ranks 3rd in Group F with 14
points, and needs a win to keep its chances of qualifying alive. Coach Cosmin
Contra has called up 24 players to the national squad, 9 of whom are playing in
the Romanian domestic championship, while the other 15 are playing in different
leagues abroad. Some have been surprised with Contra’s decision to leave out
Genoa’s goalkeeper Ionut Radu or Galatasaray Istanbul’s forward Florin Andone.
Instead Cosmin Contra has called up midfielder Constantin Budescu and forward
Denis Alibec, both playing for Astra Giurgiu.
At the ATP
finals hosted by London, in the men’s doubles Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer
of the Netherlands are playing Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the
Max Mirnyi group. In the second match, Tecau and Rojer defeated the no. 1 pair
in the standings, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, but lost their first
match to the all-German pair Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.
In women’s
handball, Romania’s representatives in Champions League are playing new matches
this weekend. Romanian champions SCM Ramnicu Valcea will play Brest Bretagne of
France in Group C at home, while vice-champions CSM Bucharest will go up
against Rostov Don of Russia away from home in Group B. In the EHF Cup, the second leg of
the third round will be played this weekend. CS Magura Cisnadie will take on
visiting side Rocasa Gran Canaria of Spain. In the first leg the Spanish team had
won 28-24. Corona Brasov will play Gloria Bistrita-Nasaud at home. In the first
leg, the team from Brasov had won 27-25.
Finally, in men’s
handball, Potaissa Turda will play Dobeles Tenax of Latvia in the first leg of
the Challenge Cup round of 32.
(Translated by V. Palcu)
