Romania national team
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Euro 1984 qualifying
Mircea Lucescu is arguably the titan of post-war Romanian football. As a successful player, as an even more successful manager, and in his current incarnation as a polyglot, generally benign uncle-figure who takes care of his boys during wartime and still wins trophies, ‘Nea Mircea’ is celebrated both at home and abroad like few other… Continue reading
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End of season round-up
I’ve been away from Romania for nearly 3 years. As the 2021-22 season draws to a close, let’s see what’s changed since I left. Oh, not much. Continue reading
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Talk about the passion
Who says nobody cares any more in Romanian football? Me, I say that, usually. And the people I talk to about it tend to agree, unhampered by their having no concrete existence outside my head. But last weekend saw tension, passion and confrontation on and off the pitch at different ends of the pyramid. Warning:… Continue reading
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Inter-Allied Games, 1919
Thanks to Brian D. Bunk of the excellent soccerhistoryusa.org website for drawing my attention to this multi-sport competition, held a hundred years ago, after the cessation of hostilities on the western front. Romania was one of eight countries which sent a team to take part in the football tournament. Although the composition of the team… Continue reading
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Romania at the 1930 World Cup (2)
The story continues. (See here for part 1 of this timely look back at something which happened almost exactly 89 years ago next-but-one month.) Continue reading
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Romania at the 1930 World Cup (1)
Only about 188 weeks to go until the long-awaited Qatar World Cup kicks off!!!! That, and the upcoming 88.75th anniversary of the event in question, combine to mean it must be another timely Romaniaballs blog post. We will be EXPLODING myths, EXPOSING biased reporting and possibly even EXPANDING our knowledge of men in big, baggy… Continue reading
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I can’t take my eyes off you, Hagi
This is part 4 in a series of posts tracing the Romanian national team’s fortunes 1990-94. Click for parts 1, 2 and 3. Wales: episode 2 Wales and the Slovakoczechs both beat Cyprus during October, meaning that, come 17 November 1993 and the last pair of fixtures, any of the four contenders can still qualify… Continue reading
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The Road to ’94
Qualification for the 1994 World Cup starts early – even before Euro ‘92 has kicked off in Sweden. Romania are third seeds, drawn against Faroe Islands, Cyprus, Wales, Czechoslovakia and Belgium. Two of these teams will qualify for the finals in that magical dreamland, the USA. Continue reading
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Jukebox Durie and a Saxon warrior
[Click here for the previous part of this story.] By the time Romania play again, it’s October 1991 and they are being left behind in the group table. Half of their team have already moved clubs once more. My brother-in-law has seen the Blue Aeroplanes play the Reading Festival. And would it be impolite to… Continue reading
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The Generation Half a Generation Before the Golden Generation
This series of posts will trace the progress of Romania’s national team through qualifying for the 1992 European Championships and for the 1994 World Cup. We will see who remains from the Italia ’90 side we left behind in my earlier article. We will see San Marino score against them. We will (eventually) see Paul… Continue reading
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I like books. I like words. I like maps. I like football (mostly Romanian).
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