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Best players in Romania: central attacking midfielders
- JULIANO SPADACIO – Rapid Bucharest
- Lucian Sanmartean – FC Vaslui
- Sixto Peralta – CFR Cluj
- Eric de Oliveira – Gaz Metan Medias
- Ovidiu Vezan – International Curtea de Arges
My view: Well, if Spadacio wins this after the worst season since his arrival to Rapid, it means that the guy is way too good for this league, but not good enough for a better one, given the lack of offers from Europe this summer… Anyway, let’s just say that Sanmartean made a nice comeback in Liga I, but he still looks like he wouldn’t like to give too much on the pitch – he probably waits to turn 34, 35. If Lopez Caro wants to win something next season, well, he should try and make this guy give it all for FC Vaslui. I wouldn’t have included here Peralta, as he’s more of a number 8 than a number 10, while Vezan is the absolute surprise. Should I add that, in spite of this “achievement”, the guy has just been released on a free transfer by International Pitesti? Thumbs up, though, for Florin Dan, an experienced player who gave it all to save Unirea Alba Iulia, who just missed out on this Top 5.
My choices: Well, to say Radut, now, after Steaua got his signature and he made his debut among the seniors in the National Team doesn’t make me much of an observer, right? But, looking through the list of players taken into consideration, there isn’t another young&promising attacking midfielder out there. And that’s quite sad. And scary!
Note: the top five is taken from Gazeta Sporturilor, a newspaper that uses the service of Digital Soccer Project. These results are based on a series of specific criteria for each position, include only players that have collected at least 1.200 minutes on the pitch in the past season and the only subjective part of the analysis consists in the average marks received by the newspaper’s writers.
Round 21 – match highlights ;-)
Friday games:
- Ceahlaul – Gaz Metan Medias 0-0
Zoran Filipovic adds a second point in as many games since taking over the bottom placed in the league, but this was one of those matches that Ceahlaul needed to win in order to put some pressure on the other teams threatened by relegation. The home team failed to create chances even when Medias had to play with 10 men, after Kubala’s dismissal, in spite of Barcauan‘s debut, who was used as a centre-forward, seven years after he was reinvented as a centre-back!
- Astra Ploiesti – Politehnica Iasi 1-1 (L. Ganea 77 / V. Negru 80)
Tight game, in which Astra played slightly better and has enough reasons to feel disappointed, as Politehnica scored on its first clear cut chance through an otherwise uninspired Negru, three minutes after Ganea found the net once again – a tap in from close range, following a flick-on from Radek Oprsal. The match confirmed that the defender Marcelo Mendez is the only player from South America brought this winter that, at this point, offers some guarantees, with Kurchovski and Diego Silva once again disappointing and all the other sitting on the bench until the final whistle… Impressive performance from Vlad Bujor, in Poli’s team, a young forward loaned from CFR Cluj, who shows a lot of potential and definitely deserves attention in the near future.
- Steaua – Otelul Galati 1-0 (Stancu 11)
Bogdan "Tomcat" Stancu
The hosts grabbed three important points, against the team that had won against CFR Cluj in the previous round, but Otelul was a handful for Stoichita’s men as well. The match was decided by the player that refused to take part in the U23 game against Italy, saying that he’s injured, but who looked in very good shape ;-). Stoichita handed the first start to Stelios Parpas, in central defense, and takes heart from his performance, as the Bulgarian Zhelev will be suspended for Wednesday’s derby against Dinamo, after his fourth yellow card of the season. But that wasn’t the only blow for Steaua’s defense, with Artiom Karamyan leaving the field with a serious injury and keeper Zapata showing once again signs of weakness in goal… Read more…
22 players for Romania’s U23. Italy, watch out! :-)
Tomorrow, starting 14.00 (Bucharest time), Romania faces Italy, on Rapid’s stadium, in a match that counts for Group A of “International Challenge Trophy”, a competition dedicated to players born after 1st of January 1986.
Romania’s team was selected and will be guided by Razvan Lucescu, who failed miserably with the useless friendly against Israel, a week ago, but now has a chance to see on the pitch promising players who could be a solution for the senior team in the near future (in bold you can see who I believe to be fitting this profile).
Here is the full list:
Goalkeepers: Ciprian Tatarusanu (Steaua), Alexandru Pena (AS Roma – Primavera)
Defenders: Bogdan Straut (Poli Iasi), Sergiu Homei (Gloria Bistrita – on loan from Dinamo), Dragos Grigore (Dinamo), Cristian Sarghi (Otelul Galati), Razvan Patriche (Sportul Studentesc – second division), Alexandru Tudose (Steaua), Iasmin Latovlevici (Gloria Bistrita – on loan from FC Timisoara), Laszlo Sepsi (FC Timisoara)
Midfielders: Liviu Antal (Otelul Galati), Hristu Chiacu (FC Timisoara), Vasile Olariu (Victoria Branesti – second division), Mihai Radut (International Curtea de Arges), Mihai Onicas (Poli Iasi – on loan from Steaua), Andrei Ionescu (Poli Iasi – on loan from Steaua), Alexandru Curtean (FC Timisoara), Paul Parvulescu (Gaz Metan Medias)
Forwards: Alexandru Ionita (Rapid), Bogdan Stancu (Steaua), Alin Litu (Gaz Metan Medias), Marius Alexe (Dinamo).
Scouting Romania 