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Pustai playing hard to sack
Cristi Pustai: 5 years on the same bench and counting...
Cristi Pustai is a maths teacher – a story I wrote for the outstanding IBWM can be found here – who’s pretty good at coaching football too. He took charge of Gaz Metan when this small club was struggling for life in the top flight and almost made it into the Europa League group stage. Yesterday, “The Professor” finished his fifth year on the same bench by preparing tonight’s game versus CFR Cluj, a difficult exam, with his team dangerously close once again to the relegation zone.
According to a stat from Gazeta Sporturilor, he’s been in charge for 1.827 days, which is not a lot by Premier League standards 
, but keeps him in first place, way ahead of all the other colleagues from Liga I. Otelul’s Dorinel Munteanu is in second place, with just under 1.000 days for the same club.
Pustai deserves the credit and to stand out like that in a league where only foreign coaches interrupt from time to time a disturbing and dubious rotation of the same mediocre managers between the top flight clubs. He’s been as ambitious through the rough patches as when the team reached its’ best form and refused to give up his calm speech and modest approach even when he was making history for a club he thought it was time to leave a year ago, when he felt the need of a new challenge. The club managed to convince him to stay, by offering exactly that. Ovidiu Hoban (one of the most underrated players in Liga I), Paul Parvulescu and Eric de Oliveira are all gone and keeping the current team safe really needs some top class coaching… Good luck, Teach!
Ready to turn on the gas!
Eric de Oliveira failed to force a transfer in the Ukrainian first division. He probably doesn't regret it anymore...
They had finished last season in 7th place, just missing out on a place in Europe, but Cristi Pustai’s men were rewarded in the end, as Gaz Metan Medias was granted the access to the Europa League preliminary rounds after FC Timisoara failed to get a licence and was withdrawn from Europe as well as the Romanian top flight.
Gaz Metan will face on Wednesday KuPS Kuopio, a Finnish club now lying in 7h place in the league, in a game that will mark the club’s debut in the European competitions.
“We’ve been working to get here for the past 4 and a half years”, said the Maths teacher that has recently agreed to continue his work at the club, although a few months ago he was hinting towards a move away from Medias, considering this the end of a cycle.
In my opinion, he’s intelligent enough to find ways to continue the development of this small, yet serious club, and this European adventure should bring enough motivation in a group of players that hasn’t gone through major changes, Pustai sticking to the right kind of strategy in a transfer market that needs a lot of work and some investment, in order to add quality, not quantity.
Gaz Metan’s “major” sigining is Ciprian Petre, a 30 years old winger, who should have done better in his career, but could still add something to this team. He likes to play on the left side, but is right footed, so Pustai could use him on both flanks, even though I believe his aim is to try and develop the talented Paul Parvulescu in a role that suits him better. Used a lot as a left winger, Parvulescu has the potential to become a very good attacking left back and Medias could have a very dynamic and dangerous duo on that side, if these two little guys connect.
These European games should also test the quality of Brazilian ace Eric de Oliveira, who has tried everything to move forward in his career, after proving himself in Romania, but Gaz Metan’s staff somehow managed to trick him into signing a new deal.
The 25 years old attacking midfielder has scored an amazing 15 goals and provided a dozen assists last season, compensating the absence of an efficient goalscorer, and I expect him to be raring to go in Europa League, hoping to convince on this stage even better than he did in Liga I.
Two other players to keep an eye on: the skipper Cristian Todea and Florin Bratu. Both are way past their prime, but would love a classy final show. Todea is a vital player in the middle, one of the best anchormen in the league for years, while a well prepared Bratu should definitely enjoy the service he can get from Gaz Metan’s talented dwarfs: Eric de Oliveira, Alex Muntean, Paul Parvulescu and Ciprian Petre.
Eric de Oliveira, very close to a move to 1. Bundesliga
The Brazilian has been the best player from Liga I in the first part of the season and Gaz Metan’s efforts to keep away the interested clubs would have been admirable, if they would have tried to offer their star player a better deal, rather than lie about his real contract situation. The board, represented by Ioan Horoba, who previously worked for Gloria Bistrita – only the most controversial club in the country, in the past two decades -, offered the press a version nobody went to the trouble of verifying, so it has been said more than once that Eric was bought from Metropolitano and signed a new five years long deal. Of course, that wasn’t true, but the player’s agents minded their business and continued to work on finding a new club for the Brazilian, who should have returned to Metropolitano, next summer, unless no other club (except Gaz Metan) would have triggerred a release clause of 350.000 Euros – way below his current market value.
According to Eric’s agent, he’s 90% close to a move to 1. Bundesliga and, considering a detail he shared on Twitter, the three possible destinations are: Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen and Hannover 96, a club I used to work for, which I believe to have the right profile for the Brazilian and viceversa…
You can read more about the player here and here.
Three Brazilians on the move: Wesley, Eric de Oliveira and Ribeiro Moraes
They have been the best foreign players in 2010 and they’re either looking to move in search of a new challenge & more money or have attracted too much interest from the bigger teams in Liga I to finish the season at their current clubs.
1. Wesley Lopes da Silva
- Club: FC Vaslui
- Position: Forward
- Age: 30
- Games/goals this season: 18/6
He’s pushing for the league title with FC Vaslui, yet he wants to move away this winter. Again. Last time he did that, club owner Adrian Porumboiu applied the “star treatment”, making the Brazilian the team’s captain, in spite of an attitude he used to punish severely (Carlos Costly is probably still regretting for trying to do things “the hard way”). This time, I doubt there’s something that can be done, as the excellent attacking man (who scored six goals even if he had to play as a central midfielder, in a 4-2-3-1!) will be entering the last six months of a 300.000 Euros/season deal, but he’s wrong if he thinks that this in enough to ease his way out of Vaslui, even if clubs like Steaua and especially CFR Cluj have small chances to finish the season above Porumboiu’s team.
2. Eric de Oliveira
- Club: Gaz Metan Medias
- Position: Attacking Midfielder
- Age: 25
- Games/goals this season: 18/9
Add 7 assists to the 9 goals scored this season and you’ll get the picture: he’s been in hot form since the start of the season and cannot continue under Pustai’s command, although he’ll have a hard time finding a finer coach in Liga I and a similar group of players&friends. He has to try, though, to prove himself in a more challenging environment, as he’s got the age, the experience and the quality to make it at a higher level and he’ll move this winter, in spite of all the problems Gaz Metan have been trying to create, since they’ve realized that they could lose their star player for nothing. His contract with the Romanian club will expire in June 2011, in spite of recent reports spread through papers too lazy to check the information handed to them by Gaz Metan’s board.
3. Aluisio Chaves Ribeiro Moraes Junior
- Club: Gloria Bistrita
- Age: 23
- Position: Forward
- Games/goals this season: 15/8
He’s at the end of an excellent first year and he should move now if he wants to take advantage of the inspired decision to come to Romania, to such a small club and pressure-free environment, like Gloria Bistrita. His brother’s recent release has reduced close to zero the reasons to continue at the club, but the question is who is going to satisfy the old fox Jean Padureanu. He’ll want cash&players, plus a little help to have a safe season, out of a deal that should not go through for less than a million Euros, in spite of visible and laughable efforts from the Becali brothers to decrease the player’s market value through some repeated comments in the media. Ribeiro Moraes is one of the few complete attackers this league has seen in recent times, a skilful creator and finisher, a free kick specialist, the kind of 2 in 1 forward that could help any team that misses both a playmaker and a striker.
Round 5 – results, scorers, standings and highlights!
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Lacina Traore showing why he's not worth millions just yet. Photo by gds.ro
The round kicked-off with a surprise just for those who thought that everything’s fine at the champion club. Sportul exploited the visitiors’ arrogance and lack of determination, putting three past Nuno Claro, but could not end Mandorlini’s contract, well defended by a clause of 800.000 Euros. Bad news for the numerous players who thought that this was the way to get rid of their coach, starting with Lacina Traore, who finished an embarrassing display with a criminal attack that killed any hope of a fightback conducted by the once out-of-favor Sixto Peralta. Read more…
