Victor Piţurcă’s selections

March 24th, 2009 | by: j | Comments Off

Heading into crucial matches against Serbia and Austria, Victor Piţurcă has a number of difficult choices to make for his Tricolorii squad. Along with missing Cristian Chivu who is out with injury Romania needs to solve its goal scoring woes quickly or be a shocking absentee to the World Cup. The opening match against Serbia in Constanţa is of particular concern as Radomir Antic has his White Eagle squad flying high and standing first in Group 7, they are within striking distance of landing a spot in the World Cup. Scoring has come at a premium and there had been a great deal of rumour of the Dinamo Bucureşti striking duo Ionel Dãnciulescu and Florin Bratu who are presently filling Liga 1 nets with ample goals possibly being called up, however both veterans missed out on the final selection.

In a surprise move Maximilian Nicu of Bundesliga side Hertha BSC, only recently granted Romanian citizenship, makes his debut for the Tricolorii.

With the upcoming matches Victor Piţurcă will go forward with the following squad list:

Goalkeeper:
Bogdan Lobonţ (Dinamo Bucureşti), Costel Pantilimon (Timişoara)

Defender
Cosmin Contra (Getafe CF), Cristian Săpunaru (FC Porto), Dorel Stoica (Universitatea Craiova), Gabriel Tamaş (Dinamo Bucureşti), Dorin Goian (Steaua Bucureşti), Mirel Rădoi (Al-Hilal), Răzvan Raţ (Shakhtar Donetsk), Mihai Neşu (FC Utrecht)

Midfielder
Bănel Nicoliţă (Steaua Bucureşti), Ovidiu Petre (Steaua Bucureşti), Alexandru Bourceanu (Oţelul Galaţi), Răzvan Cociş (Lokomotiv Moscova), Paul Codrea (AC Siena), Cristian Tănase (Argeş), Maximilian Nicu (Hertha BSC)

Striker
Gheorghe Bucur (Timişoara), Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina), Ciprian Marica (VfB Stuttgart), Florin Costea (Universitatea Craiova) şi Marius Niculae (Dinamo Bucureşti)