A preview of the football game Romania versus Lithuania

Busy week for Romania's national football squad

Florin Orban, 10.10.2018, 12:34

This week is going to be a busy one for Romania’s national football squad with two matches on Thursday and Sunday in the fresh continental competition entitled the Nations Cup.

The squad left for Vilnius on Tuesday where they are to take on Lithuania on Thursday. Of a lineup of 23 players who left for Vilnius, 15 are playing for foreign clubs while 8 others are playing for domestic football sides. Two of these players come from the champions CFR Cluj, two from FCSB, the first side in the Romanian championships, two from Viitorul Constanta and two from Universitatea Craiova. The team that mostly contributes players for the national lineup is the Czech football side Sparta Prague, which gives goalie Florin Nita and halfbacks Alexandru Chipciu and Nicolae Stanciu.

Romanian head coach Cosmin Contra had initially summoned 24 footballers, but injuries prevented Constantin Budescu from joining the lineup. Budescu, who now needs four weeks in order to recover completely, has not been replaced by another player in the lineup.

After the match against Lithuania, the Romanian selection is to take on Serbia in a home match on Sunday, October 14th. Manchester United’s midfielder Nemanja Matic is recovering from injuries and will not be part of the Serbian lineup on Sunday. Matic had previously joined the national Serbian side after Manchester’s game against Newcastle during the weekend but injuries forced him to return to the club.

Romania is presently ranked third in the fourth group of the Nations League C, with 2 points. In September our side drew all their matches, nil-all against Montenegro at home and two-all away against Serbia.