a complete disaster

Simple and straight-forward, “disaster” is the only way I can describe the unexpected collapse as Lithuania defeated Romania 3-0 in Cluj. The absence of Cristian Chivu, Adrian Mutu, Razvan Rat and Florentin Petre was obviously too much for Victor Piţurcă’s squad to deal with as the visitors completely dominated play. Throughout the match the Tricolorii were not able to develop a respectable offensive attack and showed little continuity in movement.

Marius Stankevicius opened the scoring for the visitors at the thirty-first minute and excluding a Nicolae Dică strike before the break, Romania didn’t challenge Lithuania ‘keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas. Lithuania continued the onslaught with Saulius Mikoliunas striking at the sixty-ninth minute and Mindaugas Kalonas three minutes before time.

This was a atrocious loss for Romania and will right their course as they face the Faroe Islands on Wednesday.

Romania lineup
Bogdan Lobont, Cosmin Contra,Ştefan Radu (Marius Niculae 46′),Dorin Goian,Cristian Săpunaru,Gabriel Tamaş,Mirel Rădoi (Costin Lazăr 72′),Nicolae Dică,Răzvan Cociş,Daniel Niculae,Ciprian Marica (Florin Bratu)