Romanias football squad ended this past Tuesdays friendly match against Italy in Bologna in a 2-all draw. With manager Anghel Iordanescu at the helm since October 2014, the national squad has had an unbeaten run so far.
Twenty thousand fans were on the premises to watch the game in Bologna, four thousand of whom were Romanian supporters. Anghel Iordanescus trainees had a bracing start and were much more offensive than usual. Romania opened the score on 8 minutes when Bogdan Stancu took advantage of a mix-up in Italys defense line and scored the goal from the edge of the penalty area, with a far-post shot. Around halftime, the Italians got themselves back into the game, put pressure on Romanian goalie Ciprian Tatarusanu, but no shots on target could be seen in the first half, which is a novelty for Italy since Antonio Conte has taken up the position of national squad manager.
In the second half, Italy turned the tables in their favor. On 55 minutes, Dragos Grigore hacked down Eder in the penalty box and Italys Claudio Marchisio turned the penalty kick into a goal. Ten minutes later, Maonolo Gabbiadini put world vice-champion team ahead with a header, following one of Italys attacking bouts when Romanias Cristian Sapunaru got Napolis Gabbiadini out of offside.
The Italians were close to scoring yet again several times, but the ones who actually scored were the Romanians. On 88 minutes, Alexandru Maxim floated in a free-kick Vlad Chiriches headed goalwards, keeper Salvatore Sirigu deflected the ball in front of him and Romanias Florin Andone scored his first goal with the national squad, leveling the score, 2-all.
Both teams were on the pitch wearing black armbands. A moment of silence was observed in memory of the victims of the fire that broke out at the Colectiv Club in Bucharest, as well as in memory of the victims of this past Fridays terrorist attacks in Paris.
(translated by E. Nasta)
