France 0-0 Romania

I think this is a good result. We’re definitely still in a position to advance from this group. I see Italy winning all 3 games (9 points), Romania beating the Dutch (4 points), and the Dutch and French drawing (leaving France with 2 and the Dutch with 1) at the end of the group stage.

Posted from  Canada

Well actually now that I remember every ref in the world is against Italy, I don’t see them winning every game… but apparently the offside rule is reversed whenever Italy seems to be playing.

Posted from  Canada

Well done to the Romanians. And I thought of you when M. Niculae came in. France has a long way to go if they don’t want to come last in this group.

Posted from  United States

All the things in group C are crazy now, after the big draw 0-0 from my national team agaist France, now Holland lead Italy 2-0…still remaining 30 minutes…

the next game of us are against Italy…so ,became very interesting

I’ve come to the conclusion that whatever team Ian blogs for ends up making my team miserable.

Please, please stay away from the Dutch and Italy blogs.

It is a good result. Only God knows what will happen next. I think even Him will put this group on random mode.

It was a good game for Romania but i didn’t like the useless yellow beacuse of the ball which went out of bounds and the tackle on Mutu deserved a red card. And some french players were diving,i found that disgusting.
I also believe Piturca played too tacticly but it was a good point.
If we draw with Italy and beat holland we will certainly advance.

Posted from  Canada

It’s a pity Romania didn’t score, well a draw is not bad for now. The referee was definitely seeing too much yellow.

Posted from  China

well by association considering holland beat italy and we beat holland in qualifying i think we have a good chance to advance and france is looking like a bust team this year again. or maybe it was just the first game and they weren’t going to try very hard. i enjoyed italy’s loss but now there are two options for the next game, either they are somewhat demoralized so they’ll make mistakes, or they’ll come back with a vangence, we’ll see

I’m saying this as a Romanian supporter: A ‘good result’ does not make a well-played game. To credit Romania with having played smart, defensive football is silly, because:
a) aside from the first 25 min. it was a pitiful, gutless, unfocused performance, only helped by a terminal French side. Inaccurate passing, no attempt to counter-attack effectively, barely any will to fight for the ball;
b) to tie against the weakest opponent in the group is not something to be proud of, but rather a missed opportunity.
Not to mention the ugly impression left in front of a world audience.

Posted from  United States

I was disappointed with the game, but it’s a better start than Italy’s. Azzurri will have to beat us, they are the WC and all the pressure it’s on them in game 2. Hai Romania!

Posted from  Romania

For all of you who don’t understand what happened last night, I will make it very clear. Romania is a team which relies heavily on good morale, because Piturca is himself a man who relies on good morale and imposed this style on the team (either voluntarily or not). Now, the pressure of the first game in 8 years at a final tournament was immense, so fear of losing with France was greater than usual. However, I am sure that you will see a different Romania in the next games. HAI ROMANIA!

why didnt florentin petre play?

Posted from  Netherlands

Romania will win euro xD

Great blog, Ian! Thank you!

Posted from  United Kingdom

Paul is right. Romania was desperate to prove they wouldn’t get beaten. To them, a goaless draw is a very good result. It gives them confidence and having been out of action for the last 8 years, they needed that confidence boost, especially against such a highly rated team. They were held back by the overly defencive tactics, sure, but they all agreed that the price of failure would have been too great. Against Italy, the forwards will have more opportunities to score even if they play with the same tactics – the Italians won’t have as many men behind the ball as France did. Hai, Romania!

And to those who blame Romania for the dull game – if France hadn’t played with as many players behind the ball when Romania had possession and if their forwards had pressed the Romanian centran defenders more when Romania had the ball, the French would have had more chances of scoring and the game would have opened up a bit. Romania itself would have had more chances of going forward on the break. It was obvious that Romania was going to play safety first, given their lack of an attacking force. However, France should have played more positively. This would have made for a much better game alround. Don’t blame it all on Romania…

Posted from  United Kingdom

Italy has problems in defense(central zone)…maybe we must try more in this zone…without F.Cannavaro they have problems,big problems there…

The tactics of Romanian team in the game with France was brilliant! And the discipline of the team was outstanding I’d say (beside a personal glitch which resulted in an unnecessary yellow card). Piturca did a great job in preparing this game!