Romania Team Preview Overview
Romania are back at the European Championships for the first time 2008 having failed to qualify for the tournament in Poland and Ukraine four years ago. They will be hoping to at least emulate the side of 2000 who made the quarter finals.
That was a star studded team. they had remained largely intact from the days of the 1994 World Cup where they also made the last eight so there will be a little pressure on the class of 2016. Heightened expectations might have been dampened with a solid if unspectacular qualifying campaign but with Albania in their group most fans will be disappointed if they don’t at least make the knockout stages.
Statistics
Best Performance – QF in 2000
Previous Appearances – 4 (1984, 1996, 2000 & 2008)
Qualified – Group F Runner-up
Qualifying Record
P-10 W-5 D-5 L-0 GF-11 GA-2 PTS-20
Fixtures
France vs Romania – Friday 10th June, kickoff 20:00 at Stade de France, Paris
Romania vs Switzerland – Wednesday 15th June, kickoff 17:00 at Parc des Princes, Paris
Albania vs Romania – Sunday 19th June, kickoff 20:00 at Parc OL, Lyon
Squad
Manager: Anghel Iordănescu
Goalkeepers: Ciprian Tatarusanu (Fiorentina), Costel Pantilimon (Watford), Silviu Lung (Astra)
Defenders: Cristian Sapunaru (Pandurii Targu-Jiu), Alexandru Matel (Dinamo Zagreb), Vlad Chiriches (Napoli), Valerica Gaman (Astra), Dragos Grigore (Al Sailiya), Cosmin Moti (Ludogorets), Razvan Rat (Rayo Vallecano), Steliano Filip (Dinamo Bucharest)
Midfielders: Mihai Pintilii (Steaua Bucharest), Ovidiu Hoban (Hapoel Be’er Sheva), Andrei Prepelita (Ludogorets), Adrian Popa (Steaua Bucharest), Gabriel Torje (Osmanlispor), Alexandru Chipciu (Steaua Bucharest), Nicolae Stanciu (Steaua Bucharest), Lucian Sanmartean (Al Ittihad)
Forwards: Claudiu Keseru (Ludogorets), Bogdan Stancu (Genclerbirligi), Florin Andone (Cordoba), Denis Alibec (Astra)
Betting
There isn’t a lot of betting potential in the Romania markets heading into the tournament but I’m a believer in form going into these things and it is hard to ignore the form of Steaua Bucharest’s Nicolae Stanciu.
The attacking midfielder has scored in the last four matches that Romania have scored in. Heading into this tournament and being fairly new to this level he might still have the potential to go under the radar in this competition. He has only had five caps but he’s scored four international goals already which is a fine record.
Stanciu goes into the tournament off the back of his best season ever in terms of goals scored having bagged 14 goals for his club over the course of the campaign and if that scoring form has three more weeks in it he could well deliver at a nice price in a market where two goals may well be plenty.
Tips
Back N.Stanciu Top Romania Tournament Goalscorer for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with Bwin
Back him here:
