RRI Sports Club

Football

Florin Orban, 05.12.2018, 13:40

Romania’s national football squad already knows its opponents as part of the EURO 2020 preliminaries. Romania joins Spain in Group F, as well as Sweden, Norway, The Faeroe Islands and Malta. Romania will play its debut game against Sweden on March 23, 2019 away from home, and 3 days later the Romanian footballers will play on home ground against the Faeroe Islands. The qualification campaign ends with two heart-throbbing matches, the home game against Sweden, on November 15 and the away match against Spain, to be played on November 18, 2019.

Romania and Spain have a balanced head-to-heads, including 5 wins on either side, 6 draws and an 18 to 21 goal average in favor of Spain. Romania previously played against Spain in a friendly match on March 27, 2016, that ended in a blank draw. Romania and Sweden also have a balanced head-to-heads, with 3 wins on either side and three draws. The 11-18 goal average, however, favors Sweden. We recall that on March 27, 2018 in the southern Romanian city of Craiova, Romania grabbed a 1-nil win in a friendly match against Sweden.

The record of the matches against Norway favors Romania, including 4 wins, 5 draws and 2 defeats, and an 11-7 goal average. Romania previously played against Norway was on June 11, 2003 in Oslo, when our national squad drew 1-all, in a match counting towards the EURO 2004 preliminaries. Romania won all six matches against the Faeroe Islands, scoring 19 goals and receiving only 1. In their previous match against the Faeroe Islands on October 11, 2015, Romania won, 3-1, in a confrontation counting towards the EURO 2016 preliminaries. Romania and Malta have never played a match before.

Playing as a midfielder for Belgian team Standard Liege, the Romanian footballer Răzvan Marin has been designated the Player of the year 2018 as part of the Romanian Football Gala. Head coach of the year was Dan Petrescu. At the helm of CFR Cluj, Petrescu won the title for League One’s 2017-2018 season. As part of the aforementioned Gala, main referee Radu Petrescu got the best referee title. Playing for FCSB, Olimpiu Morutan was designated the youngest footballer in 2018. We recall that FCSB’s Serbian footballer Bogdan Planic was designated the best foreign footballer of the year.

This week sees matches being played, counting towards the 18th round of the domestic League One. On Tuesday, FC Voluntari grabbed a 2-nil home defeat against FC Hermanstandt, while away from home, CFR Cluj secured a 3-nil win against Dinamo. On Wednesday, Gaz Metan Medias take on Viitorul Constanta, while Sepsi Sfintu Gheorghe face FCSB. The round’s last three matches are scheduled for Thursday, as Dunarea Calarasi are pitted against Astra Giurgiu, FC Botosani take on Poli iasi, and Concordia Chiajna face Universitatea Craiova. CFR Cluj are still at the top of the table.