I’ve decided to retire from OTF, but as people were nice enough to be positive about this thread last season, I thought I would at least pop in every couple of weeks to update matters in Romania.

The season actually already kicked off two weekends ago (three if you count the super cup), but before we get to that, the off-season moves (mostly managerial).

Steaua have signed up Cristiano Bergodi who continues his tour of Romanian clubs (National Bucuresti, CFR Cluj, Rapid, Poli Iasi, and now Steaua). I think he’s a good coach, and if he can keep to the terms of his contract (apparently the first Steaua coach who has cast iron guarantees that Becali will stay out of his business), Steaua could get back to winning ways in the Championship after it’s spent two seasons away from Bucharest. They’ve lost Goian to Palermo, and that will be a big loss, so we’ll see.

Champions Urziceni have pretty much kept the same squad, with a couple of players coming in on frees – they haven’t used the bright lights of the CL to attract a whole host of possible stars, which I think is fairly wise. Cup holders CFR Cluj have also managed to hold their squad together pretty much, to my surprise, but have opted to bring in coach “Toni” - António Conceição da Silva Oliveira, who was most recently in charge of Trofense in Portugal (and whose coaching career to date basically includes short stints at Portuguese also-rans (Naval, Amadora, Trofense, Vitoria), so that’s a pretty odd appointment. [Any info from our Portuguese correspondents gratefully received]

Dinamo parted company with Rednic after the disastrous finish to last season, and have signed Dario Bonetti as manager, whose CV makes Toni’s look positively top drawer. A series of non Serie A clubs in Italy, most recently someone called Juve Stabia (no, I have no idea either). A very odd choice of new coach, and so far is not so good, to be honest. Looks like being the first out the door this season. Rapid have signed coach Viorel Hizo (who seems to have managed just about everyone in Romania – this will be his 5th stint at Rapid, which must be some sort of record). FC Timisoara have a new manager too – Ioan Sabau, who came in from Gloria Bistrita.

New in the top flight are Astra Ploiesti, International Curtea de Arges, Unirea Alba Iulia, and Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt, replacing Farul Constanta, Otopeni, Buzau, and Arges Pitesti (who were indeed, as predicted, relegated after bribing refs, and thus spared Gaz Metan Medias who finished fourth from bottom).

It’s hard to see beyond Steaua for the league to be honest, but Urziceni, CFR Cluj and possibly Timisoara should challenge. It’s been a very quiet close season compared to recent years, and the lack of money in Romania in general is reflected in the league as a whole.

The European season has started very positively, with the pick of the results being Timisoara beating Shakhtar Donetsk to the last round of CL qualification. Having drawn Stuttgart in the next round, which was arguably the best draw they could have got they stand a chance of actually making the group stages, though it is still an outside one, and I think Stuttgart will prevail.

Vaslui also had a very good win over Omonia Lefkosa to get the the last Q round of the Europa League (with Steaua who predictably rolled over Ujpest and Motherwell. The slight thawing of my feelings towards Steaua was swiftly reversed when they beat Motherwell at the same time that Vaslui beat Omonia – to my mind a much more creditable result – and the papers were just covered with Steaua and vaslui managed the proverbial paragraph at the bottom of page 7). The last Qualification round for however that competition works sees Steaua face St Pats , Dinamo against Slovan Liberec (make or break for Bonetti I feel), Vaslui with an extremely challenging tie against AEK Athens, and CFR Cluj facing Sarajevo. At this stage I see Steaua and CFR getting through the main competition.

CFR beat Urziceni on penalties a couple or weeks ago to take the super cup, and then beat them again (2-0 this time) in the opening week of the season. They followed that up with a very creditable 2-2 draw yesterday at Steaua, so they’re looking strong. Urziceni bounced back from the defeat in Cluj with a win at home to Rapid. Steaua are level with CFR Cluj on 4 points after winning their opener away at newly promoted Piatra Neamt. Timisoara also have 4 points after a home win and away draw,. Top of the table at this early stage are Pandurii Targu Jiu who are the only team with 6 points, thanks to wins at home to Vaslui and away to Ploiesti. Big story is Dinamo who drew their away opener with Craiova and then lost 1-0 at home to new boys Curtea de Arges to much sniggering.

Any questions/comments/information on people cropping up in Romanian football gratefully received. Back in a couple of weeks.

[Oh, and by the way, this week there is a friendly between Hungary and Romania to widespread disinterest in both countries. Time was where such a fixture would have been a source of no little nationalistic emotional involvement, but I think because it's in August and everyone's on holiday, nobody really cares]

ad hoc wrote:
I’ve decided to retire from OTF
Why?

Thanks for the update, like to read about the minority leagues especially as I continually post about Turkey with the occassional feedback.
Cheers

Not got a great deal of time but to quickly sum up the last fortnight's action:

Romania beat Hungary 1-0 in a game in which they got absolutely battered. Match was a memorial to the Romanian handball player murdered in Hungary earlier this year, but still attracted the usual booing of the Romanian anthem and predictably outraged reaction in the Romanian press.

In Europe, Timisoara are as good as out of the CL as predicted, having lost at home Stuttgart. Also my Europa thingy predictions look good too, Steaua well ahead of St Pats, Cluj got a 1-1 draw in Sarajevo and Vaslui got an excellent 2-1 win at home to AEK. Whether they can cling on in the away leg is doubtful, but it's a fine win all the same. Dinamo went 2-0 down at home to Slovan Liberec at which point the fans invaded the pitch and got the match abandoned. Their (rather light) punishment handed down today from UEFA is to have the result changed to 3-0, next three UEFA matches behind closed doors, and 50,000 EUR fine.

In the league, there have been some biggish games in the last two weeks.
Timisoara beat Rapid and then drew at Urziceni. Urziceni had won the week before at Steaua much to everyone's amusement (ie mine). Dinamo suddenly woke up and won 4-0 away at Piatra Neamt, and then 1-0 at home to CFR Cluj. Brasov are the new leaders, surprisingly given the loss of Razvan Lucescu to the national team job, but it's all ridiculously tight at the top with the top 11 within 2 points of the lead.

Top few after 4 games:
Brasov 8
Timisoara 8
Dinamo 7
Vaslui 7
CFR Cluj 7
Steaua 7
Urziceni 7

Are Urziceni directly seeded to the group stage of the CL?

ad hoc wrote:
I thought I would at least pop in every couple of weeks to update matters in Romania.

I'm late coming into this party, but I'd like to say I'm very glad of this. It was your Romanian threads and Furtho's Japanese ones that got made me really sit up when I first found OTF.

And the last two seasons have been very interesting, so here's hoping this one is a similar treat..

Will follow this with interest - and hope that Steaua don't win the league!

Looks like it has been a really interesting league in recent years. Plus Cluj in the CL group stages last year. Look forward to seeing Petrescu's team in the CL this year and hopefully springing a shock or two.

I think Urziceni are directly in the CL group stage.

What is the tv/media coverage like in Romania? Is there a lot of focus upon Steaua above everyone else?

To answer the Q above: Urziceni were directly seeded into the group stages, because Romania's coefficient is high enough to give them one direct qualifier to the group stages (and one other into the qualifiers). I suspect this state of affairs will not last much longer as the last couple of years has seen some pretty ropey European results from Romanian teams, and the coefficient is skewed from the year that Steaua and Rapid met each other in the QF of the UEFA Cup, before Steaua went down in that mad semi final to Middlesboro.

In last week's European matches there were unsurprising wins for Steaua and CFR Cluj, and unsurprising defeats for Vaslui and Timisoara. But the real story was Dinamo who rode their luck massively after not being kicked out of the competition for the crowd invasion, and manage to turn round the 3-0 home defeat they suffered to Slovan Liberec and go through on penalties. I suspect UEFA thought they were dead certs to go out which was why they didn't actually kick them out.

Anyway, the draws have been relatively kind to all the remaining teams. Urziceni are I think torn between disappointment to not be given a plum match with Real Madrid or Man Utd or someone, and happiness that they actually are in a group that they may possibly even get out of (though it seems unlikely), having been given Sevilla, Rangers and Stuttgart.

In the Europa League, Timisoara got Ajax, Anderlecht and Dinamo Kyiv; Steaua got Sheriff, Fenerbahce and Twente (rematch with Steve McClaren after the semi mentioned above, plus interesting Romania vs Trans Dniestr clash); Dinamo have Panathanaikos, Galatasaray and Sturm Graz; while CFR Cluj have Sparta Prague, Copenhagen, and PSV. Is it just me or does the Europa League look like a much more intriguing competition than the CL?

In the league this sudden renaissance of Dinamo continues apace - in the space of a week they've beaten CFR Cluj, turned round a 3-0 home defeat in Europe and now beaten Steaua (away) in the big Romanian derby match. After a couple of weeks I thought Dario Bonetti would be out before September, but now he seems cemented in (at least until Christmas, this is Romania after all). [For anyone seeking connections between the Romanian first division and Sheffield Wednesday (what do you mean it's just me?), not only are the champions managed by Dan Petrescu, but the Dinamo manager is the brother of Ivano Bonetti who famously had a plate of chicken wings thrown at him by Brian Laws).

There were also safe wins for Urziceni, CFR Cluj, Brasov, and Vaslui. Rapid plunged to an embarassing 3-1 defeat at newly promoted Astra Ploesti, and Timisoara went 2-0 up at also newly promoted Alba Iulia before finding themselves grabbing a point with a late equaliser in a 3-3 draw.

Top 5 after 5

Brasov 11 pts
Dinamo 10
CFR Cluj 10
Vaslui 10
Urziceni 10


Jamzinho: Yes, the media coverage is sickeningly Steaua-centric. It drives me nuts. I've never been anywhere like it, honestly. In Turkey and Portugal the media coverage is obsessively about the big 3 teams, but at least that's 3 teams rather than 1. The only thing that comes close is looking at the Catalan press and their monomania

Romanian League 2009-10 12" Remix?

Fair amount of stuff going on here, including the familiar sight of ructions at Steaua, but to start by going back a bit to the recent WC qualifiers...

So Romania, who still held out a miniscule and futile hope of possibly making the WC play-offs, went to Paris needing to win, and actually made a pretty good fist of it (against a French side who also needed the win). Though France had the more chances, with Dani Coman in goal putting in an excellent performance, a fantastic chance at the end of the first half (missed by the useless Surdu, the replacement for injured and now utterly bankrupt thanks to Chelsea's scummery Mutu) should have put them ahead. In the second Henry scored early, but an Escude own goal gave Romania a well deserved point and even spending the last half hour facing what must have been the most expensive forward line ever assembled (Ribery, Anelka, Henry AND Benzema all on the pitch at the same time), did not look like they were going to conceded another.

A few days later, though, and the team returned to recent form with a weak 1-1 draw at home to Austria, about which the least said the better (although Timisoara's Bucur, who everybody assumed would be Mutu's replacement, did score an excellent header, proving that everybody would have been right to pick him ahead of Surdu in the France game). Now even the previously fairly realistic hope of finishing 3rd in the group for the future seeding advantages that this would bring, looks a bit beyond them.

In the league last weekend there were fairly predictable wins for many of the big names, but the resurgent Dinamo hit a wall with a 1-0 home defeat to Otelul Galati, and CFR Cluj went down by the same score away at Targu Jiu, and Timisoara failed to get anywhere in a 0-0 home draw with Astra Ploiesti

After 6 games:
Brasov 14
Urziceni 13
Targu Jiu 12
Dinamo, Steaua, CFR Cluj, Timisoara, Vaslui all 10

This week in European action Urziceni put in a reasonably creditable performance at Sevilla - they looked completely outclassed, but managed to defend well and only lose 2-0, which, given that this is arguably the toughest game they'll face in this group is no disgrace. Of course even though this was Urziceni the Romanian media could not prevent themselves from giving this a Steaua angle, which was afforded by constant references to events in the same stadium in 1986. (If you think you get too much "That night in Barcelona/Istanbul" in England, you should hear the constant referencing of Sevilla 1986 here. You'd actually start pining for Clive Tyldesley)

Last night in the Europa League, Timisoara conjured up their second 0-0 in a row, this time slightly more impressively away at Ajax (no idea how good Ajax are this year, and I didn't see any of the game, but it looks good on paper). Dinamo got a good win at Sturm Graz and CFR Cluj beat FC Copenhagen 2-0 at home, also a fairly good result.

Which brings us to Steaua. After their disappointing 0-0 home draw with Sheriff Tiraspol, Becali has sacked Bergodi as coach and brought in Mihai Stoichita who I think managed them back in the 90s and was recently coach of the Kuwait national team. The 0-0 draw was apparently not the catalyst for the usual knee-jerk Becali sacking, but the fact that at half time Bergodi wouldn't let Becali in the dressing room, which of course he sees as the ultimate insult. Goodbye Cristiano.

This weekend sees some big matches - Dinamo vs Urziceni, CFR Cluj vs Brasov, and Vaslui vs Timisoara.

Ah, c'mon ad hoc, come back. we miss you.

missed by the useless Surdu, the replacement for injured and now utterly bankrupt thanks to Chelsea's scummery Mutu

This is too good to be true.

Surdu (tr: "the deaf one") has replaced Mutu (tr: "the dumb one"). Who's next? Nevazatoru?

PG: Of course. I'd guessed that Surdu meant "the deaf", but Mutu has been so ubiquitous for so long it had never occurred to me that his name must be "the mute"

AG: Thanks, but no thanks. It's been a good decision for my state of mind, and I'm happy sticking with it.

So, back to the Romanian league and associated matters. The new regime at Steaua (the old regime but with new puppet), has had a reasonable start, but not exactly set the world alight. 1-0 home win over Pandurii and then a 0-0 draw at early high flyers Brasov. Based on that it doesn't look like tonight's game at Twente is going to emulate Steve McClaren's most famous victory (and arguably the one that got him the England job). Steaua's last three games have now produced just one goal. Big winners over the last two weekends in the league are Rapid, who've won twice, scoring 8 times in the process, and come up from nowhere to now lie 3rd. Dinamo continue with their total inconsistency - beating Urziceni 2-1 (albeit with a Fergusonesque 23rd* minute of injury time winner) (*NB slight exaggeration), and then losing to Gaz Metan Medias. Urziceni bounced back from the Dinamo defeat by winning 4-1 over Astra Ploiesti. CFR Cluj also won twice, beating Brasov and Bistrita (who despite being marooned at the bottom always seem to a be tricky match for CFR, perhaps as they are the closest thing to a local derby these days).

Top of the table after 8 games is still very very tight
Urziceni 16
CFR Cluj 16
Rapid 15
Brasov 15
Steaua 14
Timisoara 14
Dinamo 13
Poli Iasi 13

Urziceni got an excellent and highly creditable 1-1 draw with Stuttgart in the CL this week, going behind early, but apparently dominating possession and should really have won (though I was on a plane at the time and didn't see any of it, am just going on reports). Still difficult to see them pulling off the miracle of 3rd place in that group, but who knows.

Tonight as well as the big McClaren nostalgia fest, CFR Cluj play away at PSV which ought to be a comfortable home win (two Romanian teams playing in Holland tonight), Timisoara are at home to Dinamo Zagreb, which is a game they'll inevitably lose (they always lose to teams from ex-Yugoslavia for some reason), though they really need to to win, and Dinamo play Panathanaikos, in what ought to be quite an interesting fixture.

Upcoming weekend has very few interesting looking fixtures and is followed by international break, so it may be a while before anything sufficiently noteworthy happens for the next installment of this gripping thread.

After a couple of weeks I thought Dario Bonetti would be out before September, but now he seems cemented in (at least until Christmas, this is Romania after all).

Wrong. He's gone, following the defeat to Panathanaikos. Ion Marin (his assistant and former Dinamo manager) has taken over, though it's said to be temporary (but then all managerial appointment in Romanian football are temporary, when it comes down to it).

Upcoming weekend has very few interesting looking fixtures

But most of the top clubs managed to balls them up, including most comically Steaua who could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to woeful Gloria Bistrita (who now, thanks to that draw, have a huge three points this season). Other teams unexpectedly drawing last weekend were CFR Cluj (home to Poli Iasi), Urziceni (away to Medias), Dinamo (home to Targu Jiu), and Brasov (away to Galati). This left the surprisingly sizzling Rapid Bucharest to capitalise, scoring 4 for the third match in a row (away at Piatra Neamt).

Rapid now top with 18. CFR Cluj, Urziceni and Timisoara on 17, Brasov 16, Steaua 15, Dinamo and Iasi 14.

The tale of two 4-1 away wins

Firstly, and most famously, in the CL battle of ex-Wednesday players, Dan Petrescu came out on top beating Madjid Bougherra's Rangers in a surprising massacre at Ibrox. Stunning win really. I appreciate watchers of Scottish football may have seen it coming, but no watcher of Romanian football will have. If I'd had time yesterday I'd have posted and said that Uriziceni would need 4 points from the 2 games against Rangers to stanbd a chance of third place and the UEFA Cup spot from the group, and added that this was entirely impossible to imagine. It's not so impossible now, though I do strongly suspect that Rangers will win the return in Bucharest.

Last weekend, after going on a storming run up the table, scoring 4 goals a game, the tables were turned on Rapid, when CFR Cluj won 4-1 in the capital (I've ballsed that sentence up haven't I, making it seem that the tables were on a storminmg run? I've been drinking). With Timisoara battering a doomed looking Piatra Neamt 6-0, and Urziceni losing at home to Vaslui the top of the table has changed round a fair bit:
Timisoara 20
CFR Cluj 20
Rapid 18
Steaua 18
Urziceni 17
Dinamo 17

Oh, and in other news Romania are shit (this is the kind of sentence which brings home the BrEng value of treating a team as a plural entity. Saves extra explanation)

There was also quite an amusing exchange between (thick as pigshit, egomaniac, unable to keep his mouth shut) Gigi Becali and (intelligent, educated, thoughtful) Laszlo Boloni who was asked whether he'd be interested in managing Steaua. "I'd love to" he said, "but not in the current situation" (meaning of course, not under that clueless halfwit megalomaniac), which got Gigi's back up and had him ranting and raving about how Boloni was not a good Romanian and he wouldn't want him coaching Steaua anyway. All highly amusing.

Coming up this weekend: Steaua - Rapid and CFR - Timisoara.

Tonight we have Istanbul and Bucharest matches, it is Steau Fenerbahçe and Galatsaray Dinamo.

"intelligent, educated, thoughtful) Laszlo Boloni"

That's not entirely the impression he is leaving here in Belgium. You may add "arrogant" to those words too.

I've been away from home for over two weeks now, so I can't really say much beyond report score lines and things I've gleaned from occasional brief looks at the press online.

Two more managers have gone in the capital: Marin Ion quit Dinamo and went to Al-Ettifaq in Saudi to be replaced (at least temporarily) by second team coach Cornel Ţălnar. Also Viorel Hizo left Rapid, after some big scrap with the owner George Copos (who seems to be almost as difficult to get along with as Becali at Steaua). The Chairman Nicolae Manea has stepped in for some undetermined period of time. I think the big three clubs have each shed at least one manager by November for the last three or four seasons, which must say something about the lunacy that is Romanian football.

League results have been inconsistent for everyone near the top which has now actually left the top 7 teams within a point of each other:
Rapid, CFR Cluj, Steaua and Vaslui on 22
Timisoara, Dinamo, Urziceni on 21
Brasov on 20
(after that there's a four point gap)

Among the bigger results, Steaua and Rapid drew 1-1, CFR Cluj and Timisoara drew 0-0, and Steaua won 1-0 at Timisoara.

Outside the league, there was a miserable night in the Europa League, with Timisoara getting a 0-0 draw at home to Anderlecht, Dinamo crumbling 4-1 to Galatasaray, Steaua losing at home to Fenerbahce, and CFR losing at Sparta Prague. It looks like all 4 could exit after this league stage.

In the Romanian cup, Steaua once again didn't make it through to Xmas, losing to Gloria Bistrita.

The Dinamo Rapid derby is this coming weekend

Sorry for the brevity.

"2009-20010"

What a season.

And these overhyped Premiershite players have the temerity, the bloody gall to go on about their fixture lists

<winky></winky>

Ad hoc, Julio Cesar is doing rather well here, six league goals including a brace against Fenerbahçe. His second was a last kick of the game winning free kick, worth the effort to find it on youtube.