Romania’s football side has qualified for the Olympic Games after an absence of 56 years
The Romanians' latest participation in the prestigious competition was in Tokyo in 1964.
The Romanian side's qualification for the first Olympics hosted by Asia was spectacular as it needed two preliminary rounds. In the first one Romania took on Denmark and secured a 3-2 away win, which allowed our footballers to relax in the second round in Bucharest, so the Danish got the upper hand and scored three goals in the first half of the game.
The Romanians also managed two goals and the two sides met in a tie match hosted by Turin. At the end of the 90 minutes, the score was even one-all and 27 minutes in the extra-time Mircea Sasu, at that time playing for second-leaguer Minerul Baia Mare, scored the winner for the Romanians.
The second preliminary round pitched Romania against Bulgaria and our footballers won both games 2-1 at home and 1-0 away.
At the Olympics Romania was in Group A that also included Mexico, Iran and the so-called unified team of Germany, whose lineup was actually made up of footballers from East Germany. On October 11th, our footballers clinched a 3-1 win against Mexico and two days later a one-all draw against Germany. Romania outperformed Iran 1-0 two days later and qualified for the quarter finals as they ranked second in group after East Germany.
In their attempt to secure a place in the semifinals, Romania took on Hungary, one of the best sides of the moment. 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 level the scoring six minutes from time but skipper Gheorghe Constantin failed to convert a penalty shot. The Hungarians also benefited from a penalty shot converted by the same Tibor Csernai. Hungary next thrashed Egypt 6-0 and won the finals 2-1 against Czechoslovakia.
(translated by bill)
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