Romania at EURO 2016

The European Football Championship in France continues without Romania. Our team was ousted on Sunday evening after losing to Albania, nil-1.

Florin Orban, 21.06.2016, 13:15

The European Football Championship in France continues without Romania. Our team was ousted on Sunday evening after losing to Albania, nil-1.

Although expectations were high, the elimination from the EURO is not surprising, considering our teams under par performance in the match against Switzerland. In the match against Albania, Anghel Iordanescus trainees again displayed poor fitness, poor gameplay imagination and poor technique. The only player whose technical skill could have made a difference, Lucian Sanmartean, was sent onto the pitch only in the second half. It was not enough, neither for him, nor for the team.

The only gain for the national team was Cristi Sapunaru, who put in a solid performance. Alongside Dragos Grigore, he held up the defensive line. Unfortunately, Razvan Rat sustained an injury, and his replacement, Alexandru Matel, had a disappointing performance. Similarly, Vlad Chiriches, our central defender, did not have the best of games.

The way the coach prepared the match and made the substitutions during the game has been extensively commented by football experts. Everyone sees Iordanescu as responsible for the team failing to qualify to the round of 16, claiming he is soon to be replaced. It remains to be seen who exactly will take over the helm of the national team. Whats certain is that the new coach will not have a large or valuable pool of players to pick from. We no longer have players playing for top-notch European clubs, like we did in the 90s. Our domestic clubs have poor performances in European inter-club competitions. Overall, Romanias knock-out from the group phase at EURO 2016 is telling of the exact standard of Romanian football today.