Filip

Just a heads up, Romania’s submission is always through a journalist called Emanuel Rosu, he’s biased and made a very superficial choice based on hype more than anything. Not that Sali hasn’t got good potential, but for the moment physically, mentally (very questionable attitude) and in terms of decision making, it's complicated. Hellas Verona’s Ioan Vermesan deserved it for this category imo

Horrible second leg.. conceded twice in extra time to destroy that first leg lead Beyond the players' performance, Hagi decided to play it defensively and showed his tactical limits.. Really poor decisions and lack of experience as they drop to Conference league qualifiers now, CFR Cluj or FCSB would’ve fared better here.. shame and no clue why Bassong wasn’t even on the bench.

71 mins today for Bassong off the bench (Doukoure injured) in a very experimental team as Farul rest many starters for the second leg vs Sheriff on Tuesday (currently leading 1-0 on aggregate)

Even though nowhere near the relative level of 2005-2013 days, the Romanian league is overall stronger than the Hungarian top-flight (although not a massive difference either), but definitely weaker than the Greek Super League A lot of foreigners have done pretty well in Romania and spent years there or transferred on up to better leagues, it really depends on the context of the team and manager too. and of course, first impression / how you adapt Teams like CFR Cluj, Rapid, Craiova count a lot on foreigners from Ghana, France, Croatia, Belgium, Portugal, Brazil not as many from North America, but normal that they’re paying attention to CPL as potential bargains from the relatively new league What I heard and saw of Ongaro, though, he didn’t adapt very well to the rhythm there. UTA was also in a precarious situation fighting relegation and had a change in management which is always tough on new arrivals Maybe it would’ve been better to start for a Liga 2 side fighting for promotion and go from there Hope to see more CPL products in Romania / Europe in general in the next few years, hopefully the preparation will be better than Ongaro had

Their 17yo left back Andrei Borza has been reportedly monitored by Fulham and PSV, I think he will move this summer and Bassong is there to replace him as starter. Probably Kiki and Kevin Boli (mainly CB) will be his backups

CFR Cluj did really well even in Champions League those days, beating Man Utd at Old Trafford + Roma, drawing Chelsea, and picking up 10 points one season, along with FCSB (formerly Steaua), and a couple others like Astra and Unirea Urziceni popped up and did well in Europe too. Those days were great for Romanian football but sadly no comparison now.. Last few years have been dreadful in Europe, apart from CFR Cluj in some moments, who’ve also not been on their former level That said, this season and last, the league looks a bit stronger with some traditional teams returning and decent transfers, the bigger clubs doing things properly but still a long ways to go to being top 10-15 again (probably won’t happen, top 20 is achievable though) Also a little tidbit, the ex-European cup semi-finalists, 2nd most successful & supported club in the country, Dinamo Bucharest returned to the top flight this season with a really good project - a coach that spent time in other countries and with western mentality, something we need, and a good scouting team. They’re doing things properly, so 🤞 Back to Farul - the thing with them this season is that I’m not sure if they’ll make it as far as CFR would have in CL qualifiers.. they have almost no coefficient so will be unseeded every time. And a LOT depends on if they keep some of the key younger players like Grameni, Borza, Mazilu. It seems like Bassong will take 17yo Borza’s place, though, so that’s good They also brought ex Famalicao and Portugal U21 defender Diogo Queiros, and decent Belgian AM in Amine Benchaib, doesn’t seem the hardest worker though It’ll be an interesting season, would be fantastic to see Bassong playing in European groups under Hagi’s leadership

There’s more but the only ones I could catch in the moment, will look over it more tomorrow

For sure. Edi was the cheap option and also most decent coaches told us no.. they know to stay away. Burleanu has problems with the golden generation too, we need to get rid of him as president we keep breaking bad records in the last two years with the NT.. while U21 rule and academies seemingly investing more every year, we don’t see anything yet. “Talent” without hard work, without professional mentality, self confidence, or without IQ… is meaningless and even when that seems to happen, then there is injuries. We need to do more from preparing kids at a young age for modern football, that means psychiatrists, promoting a positive environment, good nutritionists, etc these kids need good mentors, not poor & toxic coaches. Add shitty agents and owners to the mix.. eh. I’m usually optimistic but.. it’s hard to swallow the same disappointment year after year. Maybe one day.. I’m done keeping any hope until they start performing in top 5 leagues, at least. But even a decent coach could make mostly poor players play decently.. or at least call the most in form ones ffs. Again, we don’t do ourselves any favours even in this mess I have to stop caring so much, but it’s hard edit: sorry just saw your question about club team, it’s CS Universitatea Craiova. Sold several plays for 6-10 million euros in the last years yet spends very little on transfers.. the only one left behind in the top flight so far this summer Dinamo even more a disaster,that’s tough

Romania seniors are a joke. Canada is far faaar ahead. It’s just sad as we used to be a name in football.. happy I have Canada that’s improved so much. But how long do I have to wait for Romania to catch up… always seems like we have good technical players but something isn’t right. It’s frustrating as hell, and we don’t help ourselves at all as for U21s, there some good attacking players there but I have doubts.. with the current coach especially clueless with no plan, they will embarrass themselves And the U21s made semis in 2019 for what? Most flopped.. something is very wrong there whereas Canada’s top players have elite mentality, Romanians cannot do anything seriously. I hoped it would change by now but I’m losing hope every year sorry for going a bit off topic, just angry here Will try and dig up some Sali videos later, though. Was a bit better today imo, but sometimes still clear his inexperience and age

Fine for that one, but so many decisions especially in the first two games. Today it’s true Romania didn’t deserve more than a draw, especially that second half.. definitely below par and that’s partly down to mentality, but this wasn’t offside vs France in the final mins: Vs Italy, the shirt pull in the box on clear chance for Chiritoiu, the slight offside on France’s first goal as well. Could’ve walked away with 2 points after the first two matches and then gone to the U20 WC playoff.. and vs Slovakia should’ve done more, absolutely, but poor decisions there too And all this without even Octavian Popescu, Dragusin, Baiaram, Cirjan, Vulturar, Bordusanu, El Sawy.. might mean nothing to most but there’s a big difference in terms of level and quality in these players vs most of this current U19 team just tired of this sick mentality, even if the refs went against Romania, how can you blow it like that in the dying seconds..

Classic Romania, conceding last seconds of stoppage time Missed some decent chances but refs have been bad throughout. Sali dribbled well after coming on and was fouled at edge of box but no call. valid goal ruled offside vs France as well and clear penalty not given Italy. Such a shame they miss out on U20 WC spot like this, although that second half vs Slovakia was not up to par of the other games anyways will try to post some Sali videos later

The potential is still there for sure. Still so much time for him to keep growing, I just didn’t see much improvement in the second half of the season on his decision-making. Let’s see what next season brings though, they made a lot of mid-to-poor signings already and let two stars go Hopefully he’ll get even more game time and one on one with Hagi to grow up mentally now

Tbh he didn’t even deserve to be on the U19 team right now ahead of some others that were left out He lost every ball he touched and his IQ still needs a lot of work.. hoping Hagi would work with him on that for next season He did have a great run at the end though, that’s his advantage, great dribbler

Btw on the topic of resources, regardless of the other factors mentioned, the likes of Denmark, Wales, Belgium (who were not better in 2002 when they began their reconstruction from ground up), Switzerland etc have higher GDP per capita, better infrastructure, far better club owners & investment on average compared to Romania. That plays a part too. Only North Macedonia I would say is a smaller country with far fewer resources (maybe Ukraine too GDP-wise, despite their size) that made Euro 2020 Serbia didn’t make that one but now qualified to the WC. Serbia and Croatia should be the model to follow for Balkan countries imo, they develop serious athletes, instead of always talking about being like Ajax or Bayern. But I think it’s partly cultural / generational mindsets too, which can change in time

Yes but it isn’t just about population, it’s about organization, good coach, chemistry. Romania’s national team in recent years has lacked identity and has been chaotic. Some poor, inexperienced coaches have been appointed by an incompetent federation in which agents still influence some selections (which is part of what made Lazio veteran Stefan Radu quit the NT some years ago, a tough defender who could’ve helped with some qualifications too). 68 or so players were used in the last campaign just to show you how often the team changes, due to injuries and other reasons for absence Romania has some very technical players who are capable of playing good football but these are some of the issues, along with mentality + lacking a proper striker for years now. But the young generation is showing some promise, there’s no reason to think the next ten years will be as bad as the last decade (again, the worst in history, but still one in which Romania defeated Chile twice, Belgium, Denmark, drew Argentina, Uruguay, etc; showing on the pitch it still possible to compete even amidst these issues) The reason countries like Serbia continue to produce players who are not only technically gifted/skilled as Romanians, but capable of adapting to the top level of the modern game abroad, has a lot to do with physical and mental aspects. Although even they had dark periods in the last 10-20 years. Nowadays the game demands professional mentality, focus, determination, stamina, strength, etc There is a Serbian agent who worked in Romania in recent years, Zvonko Milojkovic, who said it; Romanians nowadays treat it like ballet, in ex-Yugoslavian countries it’s like war. It’s mainly a difference in mentality and attitude. Followed by physical preparation from a young age But I do see some of these aspects changing in some of the younger generation now, slowly, ie Juve’s Radu Dragusin on loan at Salernitana this season has been impressive. Mihaila, Ratiu, Pascanu, Cirjan, Octavian Popescu, we’ll see. Talent has never been the question, but that isn’t enough.. everything Romania’s done wrong in recent years is what Canada does well. And it’s not the technical training. But definitely have hopes for the next ten years given the work of (mainly) Hagi and some other academies, U21 rule, diaspora, etc. I know we will never see the league on the level it was 2005-2013 (7th best coefficient in Europe at point), but at least enough to produce more well-rounded players who won’t just play well for two seasons in top 5 leagues and then fall off, or get injured every other month.. another Mutu (minus the nonsense) or Chivu needed. Time will tell if these kids can crack it, or if it will be an average group, but people are always surprised by how technical some of our players are. Lucian Sanmartean for example, best player you’ve never heard of.. worth a YouTube search if you have the time. Just one of many wasted talents of recent years (Ajax’s Nicolae Mitea, Constantin Budescu, Alexandru Maxim, Ianis Zicu, Marius Niculae, among others) But at least for the time being I also have Canada that has turned things around drastically! If you read this far, congrats, you deserve a prize 😅