Petre out for Euro 2008

As the Tricolorii begin their pre-tournament training, they will be doing so without the services of one very talented defensive midfielder. Ovidiu Petre is officially out for Euro 2008, after suffering right knee ligament damage, apparently while playing volleyball on holiday in Turkey.

Petre, not to be confused with right winger Florentin Petre, sat out the first few qualifiers for Euro 2008, and made his first qualifying appearance in Romania’s 3-1 away win over Belarus, where he played the entire 90 minutes. He followed that up with another full match in the biggest win of the campaign for the Tricolorii, the October 13, 2007 1-0 victory over Holland. He was with the team through their stumbles on the way to qualifying as well, coming in as a sub in the lackluster 2-0 win over Luxembourg and starting in the even more disappointing 1-0 loss to Bulgaria. He’s played in the team’s last two preparatory friendlies as well, the 1-0 loss to Israel and the 3-0 punishing of fellow Euro qualifier Russia.

Best wishes to Ovidiu on a quick recovery. No word yet on a replacement, but Piturca can call another midfielder up to replace him, or choose to keep the ones he has when he widdles the squad down to the final 23.

A good lesson for you kids out there – if you have a big tournament coming up in one sport, don’t play another for fun the month before, especially one that involves a lot of jumping and diving. Petre did, and now he’s going to miss out on some of the biggest matches of his career.