In Wurzburg, halfway between Stuttgart and Frankfurt, the atmosphere is light when the Romanians’ training begins, two days after their success against Ukraine (3-0) and three days before the match against the Belgium. In the Akon Arena of the German D4 club, we meet Denis Dragus, whose transfer from Standard to Trabzonspor has just been made official.
We send him a fitting “congratulations”, and Radu Dragusin, his teammate in the Tottenham selection, looks at him, questioningly: “Congratulations ?” (In french in the text). Dragus smiles politely and joins Nicolae Stanciu in a toro at the start of training in which Razvan Marin does not participate. The other former Standard player is one of the last to take to the pitch to begin the warm-up.
Mircea Rednic presents Romania
The three ex-Pro League players were the three scorers, against Ukraine, in a historic success for the Tricolori. Monday, when we met them in the mixed zone in Munich, after the match, the emotion was palpable. “Scoring in a big tournament is a childhood dreamexplains Dragus, who did not start with the favors of the forecast to start at the forefront of the attack. I was confident about my qualities and I had been waiting for this moment for a long time.”
guillementDuring the anthem, tears came.
As we have seen him do several times at Standard, Dragus used small technical gestures which sparked a certain enthusiasm in an Allianz Arena massively packed with Romanian supporters. “When the national anthem started, I looked at my father, my wife, my sister and my brother in the stands. There were tears coming up”slips Stanciu, who had already taken part in Euro 2016.
He hadn’t scored in France. He did it in Germany, and in a beautiful way. “It’s perhaps the best goal of my career. This is only our second victory in the history of the selection, at the Euro (after the 3-2 success against England in 2000). I’ll let you imagine the atmosphere that reigned in the locker room”smiled the captain, joined by Dragus: “I wouldn’t say we were more motivated because of the criticism after the preparation (Editor’s note: Romania conceded two blank draws against Bulgaria and Lichtenstein). We know our qualities, we just had to improve certain points.”
They have improved, offensively, and Romania, first in group E, will therefore play against Belgium without having the obligation to win, which can take off a little pressure. “I know you guys, you’re trying to put pressure on uslaughs Stanciu. I don’t want to be the guy who comes across as arrogant. We know that we are the outsiders, that Belgium has more qualities. But a match always starts at 0-0.”
guillementIt’s a childhood dream.
This last sentence reflects a certain confidence, like what Dragus and Razvan Marin said. “We know in which championships Belgian players play (Editor’s note: 18 Devils out of 26 play in a Big 5 championship, compared to barely 3 on the Romanian side). We know the qualities, we know it will be hard. But we will be there!” Stanciu, for his part, can be satisfied with a hard-working team, facing a Belgium which has more qualities. “We are united, and that is what can make the difference. It has become our strength.”
Edward Iordanescu, the coach, used the term “soul generation”, a reference to the generation which has soul, more than the great individual qualities of some of its predecessors. In Romania, this idea of a team capable of transcending itself on the pitch has gained ground in recent days. “We are happy to put our national team back on the map of European football”note Dragus.
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Return to Wurzburg. Romanian training is about to begin, a harmless ball arrives at the feet of Stanciu, who volleys it to send it into the opposite goal. On Monday, his delivery against Ukraine was flashed at 116 km/h. Koen Casteels and the Belgian defense have been warned, and this is a trend at the start of the Euro: long shots often hit the mark. “I am still capable of scoring good goals”if Stranciu dies.
