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Romania v. France Preview: Now it’s on

June 9th, 2008 | By: Ian Rose | 18 Comments »

It’s finally time. In just over eight hours, the Tricolorii will be taking to the pitch against mighty France. This Euro so far has been devoid of surprises, as favorites like Germany and Portugal won their opening matches. No shocks yet, but the first one could be coming, because make no mistake – Romania can beat France.

There’s no such thing as an easy match in Group C this year. France, Italy, and Holland are all great footballing nations with fantastic quality, but they all have their weaknesses. Finding the holes in the French armor will be the key to taking these three points and sending Romania to the top of the group of death.

Their first weakness? Scoring. Despite having an incredible array of attacking options that includes Franck Ribery, Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry and the young phenom Karim Benzema, the French have struggled lately to score goals from open play. Frankly, I don’t think this recent dry spell will last. They just have too much quality up top not to net some goals.

Next up, the midfield. Patrick Vieira will miss the game, and if doctors don’t clear him after a pre-match check up, the French captain could be replaced at the last minute by new Milan man Matthieu Flamini. Though Flamini will replace him on the roster, his immediate replacement on the pitch could be Jeremy Toulalan, who is starting to make a name for himself as one of the great defensive midfielders in Europe. Toulalan makes himself a central cog in his team’s machinery, and he directs the midfield brilliantly. If he continues to develop, he could be a captain someday for both club and country. Vieira’s attacking influence will be sorely missed, but Toulalan will make scoring on the French just that much more difficult.

In Inara’s great preview today, she put this up as a possible starting eleven for the enemy:

Coupet
Sagnol – Thuram – Gallas – Abidal
Ribery – Makelele – Toulalan – Malouda
Anelka – Benzema

I don’t know about you, but that defense is pretty daunting to me. Thuram is old, but still effective, and Abidal, Gallas and Sagnol are class defenders. Mutu, Marica and (dare I hope) Niculae are going to have a tough time even getting to Coupet, and then they still have to beat him.

I’m not good with predictions. I called 1-0 to Croatia today, but I doubt that any prediction on a game like Romania-France has much merit. As I said, I believe firmly that the Tricolorii have the ability to beat France. The opposite is also true – France has the ability to beat Romania. It will come down to who works harder for it on the day, and as we have seen all week, it will come down to finishing. Creating chances without finishing them off means nothing in tournament football. For me, that makes Benzema the real danger man for France, and I believe he will be the one to bulge the Romanian goal. In return, though, I think Mutu can do the same. So, cautiously, I’m predicting a 1-1 draw for this match.

Good luck to the Tricolorii, and Hai Romania! I’ll be watching the match in my Inverness Caley Thistle jersey, to celebrate the first-ever European Championships in which my Caley boys are represented. That was my original link to Romania, but I’ve gotten to be very fond of this team, and I’ll be cheering them on tonight. It’s time to put aside the words and get to the action.

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Comments

By CoJo | June 9th, 2008 at 3:37 am

1-1 =))
im roumanian and even i can’t hope for that ).More like 1-3
And i think piti will start with Niculae not Marica.

By jasperaldo (ASR) | June 9th, 2008 at 4:18 am

hey man, what is the line-up for Romania?
Does Florentin Petre play? And i hope Mutu will be deathly.

By CoJo | June 9th, 2008 at 5:42 am

I think..

Lobonţ
Contra, Tamaş, Goian, Raţ
Cociş, Rădoi, Chivu Nicoliţă,
D. Niculae, Mutu.

By jasperaldo (ASR) | June 9th, 2008 at 6:02 am

Hey,
I tought FLorentin Petre was more of a regular?
I have this guy in my EC 08 team. Everyone underestimate Romania, i think they can be some sort of an outsider.

Posted from Netherlands

By CoJo | June 9th, 2008 at 6:24 am

yes, he is more constantly but this game Nicolita will take his place.Im glad that u think that…but i don’t…not in this group…besides Mutu is very sad at this time

Now u tell me Netherlands’s start 11 pls

By jasperaldo (ASR) | June 9th, 2008 at 6:38 am

vd sar
ooijer – mathijsen – boulahrouz – gio bronckhorst
engelaar- de zeeuw
sneijder- van der vaart – affelay (or van persie)
van nistelrooij

Defense is weak, i think italy will win tonight.

Posted from Netherlands

By Nishit | June 9th, 2008 at 8:33 am

Really hope Romania get something off France. Then the Dutch will qualify

Posted from India

By Alexandru.Giurca | June 9th, 2008 at 8:50 am

Romania will be a nice surprise at this competition.
A score bet: Romania – France 1-1

Posted from Germany

By Paul | June 9th, 2008 at 9:01 am

Romania will win 2-0 tonight and will make 6 points in this tough group. Romanian national team is in Europe’s top 5 at this moment. Don’t forget we took 4 points from Holland and beat Spain in a friendly away game. All that was not by accident.
HAI ROMANIA !!!

By Danezu (Romania) | June 9th, 2008 at 9:22 am

Romania-France 2-1 and Holland -Italy 1-0 …but only The mighty GOD will know the final score…

Posted from Romania

By Danezu (Romania) | June 9th, 2008 at 9:25 am

Romania tonight: Lobont-Contra,Tamas,Goian,Rat–Cocis,Radoi,Chivu—Nicolita,Daniel Niculae,Mutu…Piturca decide this team for tonight game…i hope will by inspired… with this ”group of death”..i hate that man who sorted this group…

Posted from Romania

By Danezu (Romania) | June 9th, 2008 at 9:31 am

C’mon ‘Yellow Boys’ let’s make a ‘white night’…entire nation will be on the streets until tommorow if they win in this game …forza romania!!!

Posted from Romania

By Oscar Musat | June 9th, 2008 at 10:11 am

HAI ROMANIA…I hope we win, my God i have butterflies in my Stomach,
God help our boys !!! We deserve this!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By Joker_ic | June 9th, 2008 at 10:23 am

Hai Romania, si eu am fluturasi prin stoman da cred ca pentru ca n-am mincat

By Danezu (Romania) | June 9th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

0-0 ,the match was a little disappointed for neutral side…but for us was was a good result… Romania defense was very good and all is ok for the moment…our chances in the competition are still good.

By Danezu (Romania) | June 9th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

HAI ROMANIA!!!

By Azury | June 9th, 2008 at 9:24 pm

Good job, Romania! The game was not what I expected but the result was good after all. Good luck!

Posted from Czech Republic

By Oscar Musat | June 18th, 2008 at 4:17 am

How dissapointing my country’s performance was against the Dutch. I at least wish we could have left the game holding our heads up high, but we gave away silly goals, and looked lazy on the pitch, with the exception of a few. Adrian Mutu who’m i have admired for my country the last year in particular was the most dissapointing of all. I remember when he was a Chelsea player, his work rate and running was phenomenal, but he has been rubbish throughout the tournament. Acting like a spoilt child whenever he would loose the ball and not tackling back either. There was no urgency about him throughout the three games (with exception to the goal against france). Lobont has had an exceptional tournamnet making some amazing saves, i think he was our best player of the tournament. i was also impressed with RAT and Contra, who i also belive were exceptional and worked incredibly hard running up and down. Nicolita tried hard but i dont think has the technical ability to play at the top level to slow, perhaps he will mautre and improve in a few years. good luck to him, at least he worked hard.
But I have to come back to Mutu. He should have scored late in the secong half on two occasions. He also should have worked harder for the team. Mutu my friend you are not Hagi!! only players like Hagi got away with standing around and wating for everyone to play for him. But Mutu though a player blessed with quality, in my opinon looked like he was lacking motivation and drive. Very frustrating to watch. I suppose the other argument could be he is very used to playing with quality around him, and Romania are lacking real qaulity in certain position around the pitch. But you know at least we did not finish last. and i thought we played a great game against the Italians. I hope we improve during the next two years and make a major impact in the World Cup 2010. I think Piturca is a great manager and has done great things for the team which i beleive can only get better. He needs to be supported. Good effort boys, but not enough! More belief in oursleves is vital, as we are capable of playing awsome football when we want to

Posted from United Kingdom

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