Romania at the Olympic Games
Football, Tokyo 1964
Newsroom, 15.05.2024, 13:50
Sixty years ago, Romania’s national football side recorded their best ever result at the Olympic Games. This was back in 1964, in Tokyo, when Japan hosted the Games for the first time. Romania’s qualification was full of suspense. Two qualifying rounds were held. In the first round, Romania played Denmark, winning 3-2 away. In the return match in Bucharest, however, the Danes got the upper hand and scored three goals in the first half of the match. Romania also went on to score two goals, which meant the two sides were tied.
So they had to meet again in a decisive match, which was held on neutral ground, in Turin. At the end of the 90 minutes of regular time, the two sides were tied at one-all, so the match went into extra time. 27 minutes into the extra time, Romania’s Mircea Sasu, from the second-tier club Minerul Baia Mare, scored the goal that won Romania the match.
In the second qualifying round, Romania played Bulgaria, winning both legs, 2-1 at home and 1-0 away.
At the Olympics, Romania was in Group A alongside Mexico, Iran and the United Team of Germany, in effect East Germany. On October 11th, Romania won 3-1 against Mexico and two days later drew one-all against the German side. Romania won their following match against Iran 1-0, two more days later, and qualified for the quarter-finals owing to coming in second in their group after the German side.
Romania then took on Hungary, one of the strongest sides of the day, for a place in the semifinals. The match took place on October 18th 1964 in Yokohama. Tibor Csernai put the Hungarians in the lead in the second minute of the game. The Romanians had a chance to equalize with six minutes to go before the end of the match, but the team captain Gheorghe Constantin failed to score from a penalty kick. Hungary also got a penalty shot, and Tibor Csernai scored again to win his side a place in the semis. Hungary next thrashed Egypt 6-0 and won the finals 2-1 against Czechoslovakia.
