Romanian League thread redux

[ad hoc]

So the last thing I wrote on the now deceased thread was about the fact that the Rapid Steaua derby had been called off after 74 minutes because someone threw something at the ref. The upshot of this was that although Rapid were 1-0 up when that happened, Steaua were awarded the match 3-0. The projectile(s) came from a part of the ground that should have had rapid fans in it, but these things aren't very heavily policed (in terms of who can buy tickets), so the theories are that (1) it was a Rapid fan (this one is believed by Steaua fans); (2) it was a Steaua fan in the Rapid end; or (3) it was someone who had been paid by Gigi Becali to stop the match if Steaua looked like losing (Rapid had just taken the lead when the incident happened). (the latter two are believed by everyone else)

Some extra fall-out from the incident: Mircea Rednic has resigned as Rapid coach. A group of Rapid fans are calling for the rest of the season to be boycotted.

Last weekend, Steaua won away to FC Vaslui, whose president alleged after the game that his players had been paid by Becali to throw the match. Nothing will come of this either. The league seems as bent as a 9 lei note, frankly, and any interest I had had in it has more or less evaporated. There's still a chance that CFR Cluj will win (they won 2-1 away at Dinamo last weekend) but it seems certain to me that Steaua will win it by hook or by crook.

For what it's worth (after 26 matches)
CFR Cluj 59 pts
Steaua 56
Rapid 48
Dinamo, Urziceni, Timisoara 46

[beak]

Romanian League thread redux

In the interest of all that is good and right, I can only say "up the Cluj!" (fnarr)

[Furtho]

Romanian League thread redux

I don't remember ever having read anything about either a team or a place called Urziceni, Ad Hoc - if you can type through the pain, what's the deal here?

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

Urziceni is a small town not far from Bucharest. The team (Unirea Urziceni) have been kind of first division hangers on/yo-yoing up and down for years, which given the size of the town is pretty much punching above their weight. This year, however, they've brought in the former general manager of Steaua (who is frankly a bit of a cunt), and former Sheffield Wednesday legend Dan Petrescu as coach (after his disastrous spell at Wisla Krakow), and have moved into the sort-of-challenging-for-UEFA-Cup-spots. Word on the street is that Petrescu will be poached by Steaua in the off-season, at which point he will be dead to me, and I'll start referring to him as ex-Chelsea.

[ursus arctos]

Romanian League thread redux

I'm very glad you've brought this back (and even more glad that you presumably are feeling well enough to type).

It really seems to be turning into a classic soul-crushing season. The emergence of CFR Cluj and Petrescu's success created a real sense that things were going to be different, only for the melodrama villian Becali to rise from his demonic lair in the third reel and ruin everything again, cackling all the way.

I share your hope that Petrescu doesn't go to Steaua. Perhaps he could be tempted to come back to Italy (likely in Serie B), as he is still remembered fondly at Foggia.

[David Agnew]

Romanian League thread redux

How is Sixto Peralta getting on at Cluj?

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

He's only played once so far. So I can't really say.

[Banana Banana]

Romanian League thread redux

There is a large article on Romanian football in World Soccer, which I browsed in the bus station.

Has anyone read it?

[Anton Gramscescu]

Romanian League thread redux

PM for you, ad hoc

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

OK, so a nearly three week break from this thread, and things are still very much the same. Except that today at least I have a glimmer of hope somewhere.

CFR Cluj continue to get very odd results (in recent weeks they've beaten both Dinamo and Rapid, but in between lost at home to no-hopers Pandurii Targu Jiu), while Steaua just kept winning - or in the case of the Rapid game, somehow managed to be awarded a victory in a match they were about to lose. As a result Steaua overhauled CFR at the top of the table, and it all looked done and dusted. This week though, Steaua could only get a 1-1 draw at home to Poli Timisoara, while CFR beat Vaslui 1-0. With three games left, then CFR have gone back to the top of the table - on goal difference by one goal.

Top:
CFR Cluj 69 pts (+28)
Steaua 69 (+27)
Rapid 58
Dinamo 52
Unirea Urziceni 52
Poli Timisoara 51

The run in is the thing that gives me some small hope (which obviously will soon be dashed)

Remaining games:
Sat 26th
Univeritatea Craiova vs Steaua (a tough one)
Dacia Mioveni vs CFR (winnable, if they can get over the nerves)

Sat 3rd
Dinamo vs Steaua (this will be the big one)
CFR vs Gloria Bistrita (not a given by any stretch)

Wed 7th
Steaua vs Gloria Buzau (home banker)
U Cluj vs CFR Cluj (on league position an easy one. but it's the city derby and the hatred from U is fairly intense)

So, the possibility is still there. If CFR can play to their potential and not get all nervy as they have been doing of late, then they ought to win all three of their games. And if Dinamo can get something from the big derby match, that would be enough.

Yesterday, by the way, for lovers of weird results Dinamo played Craiova. Craiova took the lead and then had a man sent off in the 34th minute. Undeterred they added two more goals to their tally, before Dinamo scored 4 in 17 second half minutes. Then with ten minutes left Craoiva scored again to finish the match 4-4. (This match highlighted something that has been obvious to most people for some time - that Bogdan Lobont is really past his sell-by date, and if Romania can't unearth someone better by this summer, they're going to get creamed)

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

It is going down to the last game...

To cap off a fine weekend, footballwise, last night Dinamo beat Steaua 2-1, to leave the title within touching distance for CFR. But...

CFR have a one point lead with one game left to play. That game is away to city rivals U Cluj. Whose fans despise CFR as being (a) upstart nouveau riche types who have come and grabbed the headlines from the traditionally top team in Cluj; (b) "Dirty Hungarians"; and (c) just local rivalry. "U" are bottom and already relegated, but this will not be a walk in the park by any means. In fact I reckon the U players will do anything to beat CFR just because it would send the fans into raptures and actually make up for an otherwise crap season. (Much like happened last night for Dinamo). Steaua finish up with a home match against Gloria Buzau who do need the points so it's not a given, but I cannot see anything other than a home win in that one.

The games are played simultaneously at 14.30 this coming Wednesday. That's 12.30 UK time. It's going to be a massive afternoon in Cluj whatever happens (and the potential for crowd trouble is extremely high - especially if CFR win - the U fans have a fairly revolting reputation)

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

And a good Jonathan Wilson article written last week:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/apr/29/europeanfootball

[ursus arctos]

Romanian League thread redux

Was the last day of the season always set for a mid-week afternoon? Or did the league switch it because of the potential for trouble?

Becali seems to be working from a copy of the Dynamo Berlin playbook. I can only imagine what he has offered U Cluj and the ref.

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

No it was always thus. No idea why, they do it every year. I think it's the afternoon because not every club has floodlights and they have to have all games simultaneously, but why it's midweek, god knows.

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

Just in case anyone was thinking of checking livescore around lunchtime today (I suspect ursus is the only one who might be slightly interested, but you never know) the games have been shifted back to 5pm local time (3pm UK). This is because the title is still so close and has got everybody so involved (and the TV audience is potentially huge). Having the games at 5 means that most people will be able to watch them (it's common here for people to work a 7-3 working day). [Sadly this doesn;t apply to me as I have to teach from 4-8, so I'm relient on nipping out of class for a couple of minutes ever now and then to check the scores]

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

YESSS!!!!

Backlater

[Guest]

Romanian League thread redux

Are Gabriel torje and Bogdan Stancu any cop in real life? My knowledge of Romainian football starts and ends with football manager 2008 wonderkids...

[imp]

Romanian League thread redux

Up The Cludgies!

[Purves Grundy]

Romanian League thread redux

Brilliant. That's well and truly pissed on Becali's mici.

[ursus arctos]

Romanian League thread redux

I can hardly wait for ad hoc's more detailed report.

[jamzinho]

Romanian League thread redux

i take it that cluj won the title! Thats nice news

[steveeeeeeeee]

Romanian League thread redux

Is Nicolae Dica any good? He's one of the more realistic players Benfica are lining up to replace Rui Costa.

[erwin]

Romanian League thread redux

.

Well done, Cluj! The most Portuguese of Romanian clubs, of course - eight players in the squad, I think, at the last count, including the very excellent Semedo, who often reminds me of Michael Gilkes when he was in full flow.

.

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

Sadly I wasn't able to watch any of the games live for reasons given above, but such was my tension that I had set up a computer on livescore and prosport.ro outside the classroom I was teaching in so I could keep an eye on matters as they unfolded. When CFR scored I inadvertently cheered which I think made my students what was going on. I found I was more nervous about this match than I was about Wednesday's relegation match last Sunday.

I'm quite glad I didn;t watch it live though as it would have been unbearably tense, and in the first half CFR had a perfectly good goal disallowed for offside, which would have convinced me that the ref had been bought off and left me convinced that the match was going to be fixed. As it happened the one goal that decided the match was from a penalty (though a penalty that was incontrevertible) - You can see the 4 minutes between penaltyh being awarded and taken here: http://www.gsptv.ro/index/id/11767 (The taker must have nerves of steel after having to wait through all that pressure)

There was, as expected, some trouble in Cluj before and after the match - mostly U Cluj fans fighting against the police.

Steaua won 5-0 but in the end it was meaningless (and Gloria Buzau who they beat are basically a Steaua feeder club anyway, so they were never going to fight)

Unsurprisingly, Becali and his odious cousins are already complaining about various "fixed" matches (this is really rich coming from them) including the fact that CFR beat Dinamo 2-1 about 6 weeks ago, but Dinamo beat Steaua last weekend. Apparently this is clear evidence that Dinamo threw the CFR match. However last night the breaking news was that police hgad arrested 5 men in Cluj with 2 million Euros in their possession, money apparently from Becali destined for U Cluj players if they won. This one will run on a bit I feel.

Steveee: Dica was great in 2006/2007, but then got injured in the following season and hasn't really looked the same player since. He's certainly not worth the €8m that Becali apparently wants for him.

[ad hoc]

Romanian League thread redux

More on the Becali money story (in Romanian)

Apparently Steaua stand to be deducted 9 points if it proves true. Sadly however that wouldn't change their second place and kick them out of the CL altogether.

By the way, with the championship CFR are automatically entered into the group stages of next year's CL, so there'll be some big visitors to Transylvania. Paszkany says he's going to spend €100m on strengthening the team for that competition (which is fucking mental, and a bit shit really, but there you go)