France-Italy-Netherlands
Bogdan Lobonţ (Romania; Dinamo Bucureşti) – 4659 – 5295 – 5235
Marius Popa (Romania Poli Timişoara) dnp – dnp – dnp
Eduard Stăncioiu (Romania; CFR Cluj) dnp – dnp – dnp

Cosmin Contra (Spain; Getafe CF) 9989 – 10164 -10194
Răzvan Raţ (Ukraine; Shakhtar Donetsk) 9962 -10140 -10591
Gabriel Tamaş (France; AJ Auxerre) 9542 – 9641 – 9757
Cristian Chivu (Italy; Inter Milan) 10045 – 10524 – 11109
Dorin Goian (Romania; Steaua Bucureşti) 9765 – 9948 -11506
Mirel Rădoi (Romania: Steaua Bucureşti) 10693 – 2580 – dnp
Sorin Ghionea (Romania; Steaua Bucureşti) dnp – dnp – 10093
Cosmin Moţi (Romania;Dinamo Bucureşti) dnp – dnp – dnp
Ştefan Radu (Italy; Lazio) dnp – dnp – dnp
Cristian Săpunaru (Romania FC Rapid Bucureşti) dnp – dnp – dnp

Florentin Petre (Bulgaria;CSKA Sofia) dnp – 8082 – 1626
Paul Codrea (Italy; Siena) 3514 – 11660 -9446
Răzvan Cociş (Russia; Lokomotiv Moscow) 8871 -946 – 12743
Nicolae Dică ( Romania;Steaua Bucureşti) 129 – 8992 – 2725
Bănel Nicoliţă (Romania; Steaua Bucureşti) 12241 – 4513 – dnp
Adrian Cristea (Romania; Dinamo Bucureşti) dnp – dnp – dnp

Adrian Mutu (Italy; Fiorentina) 8492 – 9809 – 10255
Marius Niculae (Scotland; Inverness Caledonian Thistle) 2011 – dnp – 7866
Daniel Niculae (France; AJ Auxerre) 10613 – 11384 – 4246
Ciprian Marica (Germany; VfB Stuttgart) dnp – dnp – dnp

Given the fact these work-rate numbers / meters ran per match are in line with other statistical evaluations tools, you’re able to extrapolate the heavy reliance upon players outside of the domestic league as players from outside the domestic league account for 69% (France) , 79% (Italy) and 66% (Netherlands) of total work. While on the surface this might not appear to be a problem to solve for Coaches and administrators within the long-range development of the game it poses significant concern.

Naturally this isn’t such an easy problem to solve as with the race to see immediate success, developing younger players can unfortunately be forgotten. However without a strong youth development program as well as a supporting domestic league, the ability to crash through the top ten of the world is a near impossibility. Nations who typically do not support and develop their domestic leagues with a presence of players in the national team learn a very tough lesson as they find themselves on the losing end of matches and a dwindling ability to develop players as well as domestic coaches. I dare say this is one of the greatest problems England has within Football and to solve the situation, action must be taken that is swift and decisive.

With the upcoming friendly against Latvia it is important to expose a few younger players who play domestically to the international game if merely to get their feet wet. It is critical as the national team moves forward towards World Cup 2010 that they recognize their strengths but equally recognize fundamental flaws in the system. This is particularly important as you consider the aging squad and the afore-mentioned role of the development of the players domestically and their involvement in international competition. While this is only a partial list and does not include prior call-ups, Footballers such as Universitatea Craiova midfielders, 18 year-old Cosmin Gangioveanu, 22 year old Mihai Dina as well 23 year-old striker Florin Costea warrant consideration. The mercurial 24 year-old striker Andrei Cristea who is presently at Dinamo Bucureşti (although this is likely to change shortly) needs to be considered within call-ups once again as well as Unirea Valahorum Urziceni’s 25 year-old striker Cristian Dănălache. Gabriel Torje of Dinamo Bucureşti, at only 18, is a thrill to watch and in-time will be a top-flight player internationally. I can’t help but note that one of more interesting transfers that has received little attention this off-season is Emil Jula, now of Energie Cottbus. While he isn’t necessarily within the younger group of players his continued scoring prowess certainly make him worthy of consideration.

In part three of this review I will continue looking at the role of the domestic program, developmental plans, possible flaws, names to look out for in and out of the domestic league and how the re-emergence of Romania as a top-ten team in the world will maintain its course.

Two days until the biggest match of the group stage for Romania. Italy is cornered, and they know it. They could come out shooting with their best on Friday, trying to make up for their horrible performance against Holland, or they could retreat and send up the white flags. We won’t know how they react until the game starts. More important, though, is how Romania treats this match. We stopped the French, and the French and Italians are very evenly matched sides.

Also worth taking a look at is Spain, since if Romania manages to finish second in Group C, we would move on to face Spain (or whoever wins Group D) in the quarterfinals. David Villa was scary today, and even though everyone knows their history of falling apart at the later stages, I have to see Spain as the favorite to take the entire tournament.

One thing at a time, though, and the Tricolorii have two days to adjust and prepare for Italy. Not losing to France should give the team a lot of confidence defensively, but we need Mutu and the Niculaes to do something up top as well. I’d personally like to see a lot more of Dica in this next game. He came on late against France, and didn’t have a chance to show off the form that got him two goals in Romania’s last friendly.

Two more days to wait, and some great games to watch in that time, like Portugal v. Czech Republic and Croatia v. Germany. Good luck to Austria and Switzerland in their groups – they played well and I’d like to see them do well. Enjoy the matches, and I’ll talk to you again before the battle with Italy.

On a personal note, congratulations to Marius Niculae for becoming the first player from my beloved Caley Thistle to ever play in a European Championship. Caley fans are all for Romania!

I’ll have a longer report later. Hai Romania!

I’ll be back on tonight with a preview of the HUGE match tomorrow with France. It’s almost time for the Tricolorii to make their mark.

Despite the fact that Steaua Bucharest and the other big city sides have lost out for the first time in anyone’s memory to CFR Cluj for the Romanian Liga title, the side is still dominated by Bucharesti players. 12 players on the roster hail from the city’s three clubs. Uncapped Ciprian Deac is the one player from Cluj who earned his way onto the squad. With the attacking midfield options all getting a bit longer in the tooth, it’s nice to see a young player being given a shot.

There are still three cuts to be made before the final 23-man roster is announced. Let’s hope that by then Ciprian Marica is healthy, Mutu is back from his fatherly duties, and Piturca gets to choose him strongest roster, instead of having injuries make the choice for him.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Bogdan Lobont (Dinamo Bucharest), Danut Coman (Rapid Bucharest), Marius Popa (Politehnica Timisoara).

Defenders: Cristian Sapunaru (Rapid Bucharest), Dorin Goian (Steaua Bucharest), Sorin Ghionea (Steaua Bucharest), Cosmin Moti (Dinamo Bucharest), Cosmin Contra (Getafe), Gabriel Tamas (Auxerre), Stefan Radu (Lazio), Razvan Rat (Shakhtar Donetsk).

Midfielders: Florentin Petre (TSKA Sofia), Paul Codrea (Siena), Razvan Cocis (Lokomotiv Moscow), Cristian Chivu (Inter Milan), Mirel Radoi (Steaua Bucharest), Ovidiu Petre (Steaua Bucharest), Nicolae Dica (Steaua Bucharest), Banel Nicolita (Steaua Bucharest), Ciprian Deac (CFR Cluj), Adrian Cristea (Dinamo Bucharest).

Forwards: Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina), Ciprian Marica (VfB Stuttgart), Daniel Niculae (Auxerre), Marius Niculae (Inverness Caledonian Thistle), Florin Bratu (Dinamo Bucharest).

The big question for Romania fans is how Mutu will respond. He is basically done with competitive football now until June 9th, when the Tricolorii take on France in their Euro 2008 opener. Will the time off, and the fact that his club season ended on such a poor note, motivate him to tear up the competition when the group stage starts in Switzerland? Or will the malaise brought on from a sad end to the season cause him more frustration, and affect his play come June?

We’ll have to wait to find out for sure, but the team and its fans are well aware that as Mutu goes, so goes Romania. He has only played in one major tournament in his career, the promising Euro 2000 where Romania made the quarterfinals before losing 2-0 to Italy. He has never scored in a major tournament, but more importantly, when he does score, Romania win. Mutu has scored in 22 international matches, and in those matches, Romania has 19 wins, 2 draws, and only one loss. So, as disappointing as this week must have been, he’ll need to get his head together and concentrate, because with France, Italy and the Netherlands waiting, the Tricolorii are going to need him more than ever.

The first is offside calls. Apparently, the Tricolorii were called offside more during the Euro qualifiers than any other team, a surprising 36 times. Only 16 of these were down to Mutu and Marica, so one wonders if Romania’s midfielders might need a lesson in the offside rule. These tournament games often come down to a goal or two, and if you’re going to get them from open play, you need to be able to time those runs perfectly. This stat hints there might be an issue with that, and it’s one worth spending some time on in pre-tournament practice.

A statistic raised in the article that I don’t agree with, though, has to do with the tournament Golden Boot. The writers point out that none of the past four Euro champions have also featured the Golden Boot winner. This is one of those statistics that Mark Twain would have especially despised, the kind that turn a good thing bad. It would have us believe that Adrian Mutu winning the Golden Boot would be damning to Romania’s tournament. Give me a break. As long as there is a solid second option for scoring, having a striker on a goalscoring streak is never a bad thing. Poor use of stats there.

Another that is worth a look is the point about possession, namely that of the six top-possessing teams of the Euro 2004 group stage, only two made the knockouts. As Mutu knows well after his two matches with Rangers, possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but it means nothing in football if you can’t score. Still, as long as possession is used positively, to work the ball down the pitch and create opportunities on goal, I’d rather have my side with the ball than the other.

And finally, penalties. Fair point there. Especially in the knockouts, tournament football can get very cagey, and penalties happen. The Romanians have been pretty spot on from the spot, but you only have to miss one to get sent home early. If you’re nervous, it might be better to pound one low, a la Frank Lampard, then aim for the top corner and miss, like Bobo Vieri.

On the other hand, Romania coach Victor Piturca rang up his usual first team with the exceptions of a few first time call-ups, and long deserved come-backs. When I say long deserved come-backs I am of course referring to Inverness striker Marius Niculae, who hasn’t worn the Tricolored Uniform in over 2 years. The 26 year old striker was quoted as saying in a pre-match interview that he was going to make the best out of this chance, and indeed he did.

45″ After dominating for minutes on end and then being reduced to defending for the final part of the first half, Romania got a lifeline through a Ciprian Marica strike from just outside the 16 yard line. The Vfb Stuttgart striker who has had a recent fall-in-form put it away to give Romania the advantage right before the halftime whistle was blown.

60″ Florentin Petre manages to embarass himself by missing a wide open shot on net, instead the ball bounces off his ankle and in the path of Auxerre lead-man Daniel Niculae who puts it away from the volley. Niculae is used to taking first-time shots and quite frankly when he’s given extra time to plan his shot, it almost always misses, he’s just a spur of the moment player.

75″ From the start of the second half you could tell Marius Niculae was goal-hungry and everyone anticipated what was to come. A great overhead cross from Nicolita brings the ball onto Niculae’s head and he makes it 3-0 for the homeside. A very well deserved goal for the Inverness striker as he was clearly in the running for Man of the Match.

The final substitutions took place in the last 10 minutes of the match, introduced, among others, were: Sepsi (Benfica) and Ogararu (Ajax). An interesting fact to note is that Romania had 4 different captains for tonight’s match due to the constant substitutions.

Overall Romania showed why they finished top of Group G in the qualifiers and a determination that hasn’t been seen in a very, very long time. If things progress the way they have today France, Holland and Italy have many sleepless nights ahead.

Player Ratings: Popa 8; Contra 8 (Ogararu 7); Tamas 6 (Ov. Petre 8); Goian 9; Rat 8 (Sepsi 8); Radoi 8; Chivu 6 (M. Niculae 9); Fl Petre 8 (Nicolita 8); Cocis 8; Mutu 7 (Dica 7); Marica 8 (D. Niculae 9);