Football Flash

A look at the latest performances in the Romanian football

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Florin Orban, 29.03.2023, 13:45

Romania’s national football side
has started off on the right foot in its qualification campaign for the
European Championship in 2024. In qualifying Group 1, the Romanians have
secured a 2-0 win against Andorra and a 2-1 home victory against Belarus. In
both games, the team coached by Edward Iordanescu managed pretty good shows
against the representatives of Andorra, currently ranking 153rd and
Belarus, which is occupying the 97th position in a FIFA ranking. In
the same ranking Romania comes 52nd.

For the Romanian footballers
these two matches proved to be real training sessions for the more difficult
games to come in the month of June. The Romanians managed to surprise their
opponents with crisp actions but unfortunately failed to capitalize on them
most of the time. There is also room for improvement in the team’s defence
line, which showed complacency refusing to believe the opponents could really
pose a threat. But on Tuesday Belarus proved to be a force to be reckoned with
and managed to reduce the difference with a goal in the 86th minute
of the game. A draw against Belarus would spell disaster for the Romanian
footballers who could thus see their qualifying chances down the drain.

Now the lineup sent to the pitch
by coach Iordănescu is ranking second in the group, on par with Switzerland,
which is first thanks to a better goal average. The Swiss side thrashed Belarus
5-0 on Saturday and secured a 3-0 home win against Israel. A surprising result
was the one-all draw Andorra got in Kosovo against a side, which has 2 points
and is presently ranking third in the group, right after Romania. Andorra comes
in fourth and Israel fifth, each with a point. Belarus is the last side in the group with no
point. The Romanians will next take on Kosovo in an away game on June 16th
and three days later will be up against Switzerland. Their qualification campaign
is due to resume in September.

(bill)