a day of reckoning for Victor Piţurcă?

With the Tricolorii stumbling in their first three World Cup qualifying matches and sitting fifth in Group 7, only above uber-minnows Faroes, the possibility of not making it through to South Africa is becoming a very real possibility. As a very cagey Georgian squad enters Dinamo Stadium in Bucureşti, there is a distinct possibility that this is Victor Piţurcă final match as the head of Romania’s national team.

The luxury of using a friendly as a “learning experience” is gone as the Federaţia Română de Fotbal and its supporters are on a short fuse. The miserable start to qualifying which has seen the Tricolorii overwhelmed by Lithuania, a less-than convincing victory over the Faroe Islands and uncharacteristic sloppy defensive play allowing France to draw, makes this a “must-win” match.

However in a solid statement of long-term player development Victor Piţurcă has wisely cast his squad with all but three players from Liga 1. While notables Christian Chivu, Cosmin Contra, Nicolae Dică, Adrian Mutu and Florentin Petre are not included in the squad list, younger players Florin Costea (Universitatea Craiova), Valerică Găman (Universitatea Craiova), Adrian Ropotan (Dinamo Bucureşti), Costel Pantilimon (FC Timişoara) and Cristian Tănase (FC Argeş Piteşti) will play key roles in the match. Whether this means Federaţia is going to take a more patient role with Mr. Piţurcă’s plan remains to be seen but clearly the manager is confident of his younger force and should be applauded for his commitment to the future of Football in Romania.

The Georgian’s are unquestionably an “up and coming” side on the world scene that cannot be ignored. The possess a group with fine pedigree including veteran Levan Kobiashvili (Schalke 04), Lasha Salukvadze (Rubin Kazan) and electrifying young-gun Levan Mchedlidze (Palermo). They will be without veterans Kakha Kaladze (AC Milan), Alexander Iashvili (Karlsruher SC) and Dato Kvirkvelia (Rubin Kazan), David Siradze (Spartak Nalchik) due to injury.

I will report on the match as it concludes.