EURO 2008 INFO

Romania enjoyed a very satisfactory qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 to reach their fourth European finals tournament - and their first since 2000.

Undefeated at home, and with only one loss overall, the haul 29 points that Romania amassed compares very favourably with some of the best qualification records.

Romania embarked on their Euro 2008 qualification campaign having failed to make it to a major tournament since 2000, missing out on three consecutive major tournaments.  In their glory days of the mid- to late-nineties, they reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 1994 and followed that up with appearances at the next three major finals until 2000.  Romania had been in the doldrums since; but new manager Victor Piturca has instilled a new team spirit in his squad, headed by Adrian Mutu, who hit six of Romania’s 26 goals, and the team's performances  have noticeably picked up.  

Therefore, qualification for Euro 2008 with a new team comprised of players from the all-conquering  Steaua Bucharest side plus plenty of additions from abroad such as Fiorentina-based Adrian Mutu, represents a new leaf in Romania’s football history.

Romania were drawn in Group G as seeds, with the Netherlands and Bulgaria widely expected to contest the second spot.  Ultimately both the Netherlands and Romania qualified with a match to spare, although Bulgaria pushed both of them hard, holding both to draws in one of their two games.  Slovenia, Albania and Belarus all struggled to provide much of a challenge but all took points off each other to ensure that Group G boiled down to a three-horse race.  Minnows Luxembourg posted the most respectable performance of Europe's smallest nations, a last-minute win in Belarus even giving them an unlikely three points.

Romania started their qualification campaign with a home match against Bulgaria.  After racing into a two-goal lead thanks to goals from Laurentiu Rosu and Ciprian Marica, they were hauled back after two late goals from Bulgaria's Martin Petrov forced a 2-2 draw.  

They got their first win four days later when they travelled to Albania.  Goals in the second half from Nicolae Dica and a penalty from forward Adrian Mutu, who finished joint group top scorer with six, gave the Romanians all three points.  In their third game they beat Belarus 3-1 to continue their unbeaten start to the group. Although three points behind the Dutch, they had played one game fewer than the group leaders, but were two points ahead of Bulgaria.

With the group lead at stake they travelled to the Netherlands to meet the Dutch and managed to hold their hosts to a 0-0 draw to remain within striking distance.  A 3-0 win against Luxemburg and a quick-fire double against Slovenia, beating them both home and away in consecutive matches, kept up the momentum.  

A 1-3 win away in Minsk, thanks to a brace from Mutu and another one from Dica, brought them level with the Netherlands at the top of the group on 20 points apiece prior to the second head-to-head meeting.  As in the first game between the pair, which finished 0-0, another tight encounter ensued, but was eventually decided with 20 minutes left, thanks to a goal from a set-piece by Romanian centre-back Dorin Goian.

That gave Romania a three-point lead at the top of the group, which they maintained thanks to a 0-2 win in Luxemburg when Petre and Marica were on target. That win gave them a seven-point lead over third-placed Bulgaria and qualified them for the tournament.

Already through to the finals, they met Bulgaria again in Sofia.  An early Dimitar Berbatov goal was enough to split the two teams as Romania took their foot off the gas.  In danger of losing the top place in the group, they gathered themselves for the final match in Albania.  

As the Dutch lost 2-1 in Belarus, Romania put in their best performance of qualifying by hitting six against the Albanians, thanks to a pair from Dica and Niculae, with goals from Tamas and Marica completing the rout.  The win took Romania to 29 points, some three points clear of the Dutch.

After several disappointing collective performances by Romania, the management will be delighted with the ease with which they have progressed through the group.  Had they not thrown away the two points in the first game against Bulgaria when two late goals pegged them back to 2-2, they would have equalled the best qualification performance of any team.

In total the Romanians bagged eight points against their fellow top sides, three more than the Dutch and six more than Bulgaria.  Overall they also won the most games in the group (nine) and scored the most goals (26), so they can surely feel their top position in the group was justified.  

As it is, that 29-point haul is the second best record of all 14 qualifiers, along with the Czech Republic, who had arguably an easier group.  

If the Romanians can translate their group form into the tournament they could yet spring a surprise.  They’ve been drawn in the hardest group with Italy, France and the Netherlands.  Having already taken four points from the Dutch in qualifying they’ll feel quite comfortable playing them again, and a draw in one of the other games could potentially see them through to the quarter-finals.