Monday, June 17, 2024

Romania stun Ukraine


From the mid to late 80s - Steaua and Dinamo Bucharesti were producing eye-catching talents like Gheorghe Hagi, Drumitrescu, Marius Lacatus, Poppescu, Petrescu, Prunea, Mihali, and Florin Raducioiu.

These players were habituated to score stunners led by Haghi whose left foot was always compared to Diego Maradona.

Romania was emerging as a European powerhouse again since 1970 back then.

At the back, the Romanian unit was solid backed by the brilliant goalkeepers, the midfield remained flat four with a pivot at the back - where one was a true attacking playmaker while the other was a supportive midfielder and the rest were purely defensive.

Everything flew through the playmaker and the rest of the team grew in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994.

30 years later - the 4-1-4-1 formation allowed the same platform for the players to flourish.

No one knows players like Nicolae Stanciu, Razvan Marin, Denis Dragus, Coman, Burca or Ianis Hagi - the son of legendary Hagi, but this group of players are similar to mid to late 80s and early 90s - score stunners, squeeze the opposition by blocking the spaces and defend with sheer determination.

Their story in the qualifiers says they had been impressive for which I tagged them as one of the underdogs in this tournament.

They stunned Ukraine in Munich like Hagi stunned Colombia 30 years ago in Pasadena.

It's a rollicking start and one can expect them to reach at least in the last eight.

Note: Excerpts from the The Guardian

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

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