Radio România Internațional

Tag: 2018 World Cup preliminaries

  • September 1, 2017

    September 1, 2017

    PARLIAMENT — Parliament resumes its plenary sessions today after the summer recess. The main legislative priorities on the agenda are the amendments to the pension law, the laws on the judiciary and setting up the Sovereign Investment Fund. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies must vote on draft laws pending from the previous session, on legislative initiatives and on the Government’s emergency orders.



    CORRUPTION — The president of the National Health Insurance Authority, Marian Burcea, was arrested today by anticorruption prosecutors. Burcea is suspected of illegally reimbursing medical services. Another 13 people have been arrested in the same case. Burcea was sacked right after his arrest. Anticorruption prosecutors suspect the funds of the Bucharest Health Insurance Authority were embezzled by refunding sham medical services. Hundreds of false medical records were allegedly forged, involving several employees who enjoyed the protection of the institution and of the National Health Insurance Authority. On Thursday, prosecutors searched the headquarters of dozens of companies and institutions, as well as the homes of certain people in Bucharest. The fraud purportedly caused an estimated prejudice of 3 million euros.



    ENESCU FESTIVAL — The George Enescu International Music Festival, one of the most prestigious events of its kind in Europe, kicks off on Saturday and will bring to Bucharest and other 7 cities in Romania over 3,000 of the world’s most acclaimed musicians. For three weeks, spectators will be able to attend some 80 concerts and events. This year’s honorary president of conductor Zubin Mehta, while the festival’s artistic director is another conductor, Vladimir Jurowski. Some of the concerts on the festival’s agenda will be broadcast live on Radio Romania’s culture and music channels. The opening concert will be George Enescu’s “Oedipus” Opera performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski.



    TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu, 57 WTA, has advanced to the third round in the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. In the second round Niculescu ousted another Romanian, Ana Bogdan, 108 WTA, after three sets. Niculescu will next play Jennifer Brady of the United States. The best performance for Monica Niculescu at the US Open was reaching the round of 16 in 2011. Niculescu is the only standing Romanian player in the competition, after Sorana Cirstea lost to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Another three Romanians, including Simona Halep, were knocked out in the opening round. In the women’s doubles, Romania is represented by Sorana Cirstea, Irina Begu and Raluca Olaru, while Horia Tecau will be playing in the men’s doubles.



    BASKETBALL — The city of Cluj-Napoca is playing host to matches counting towards Group C of the European Basketball Championships. Romania is playing alongside the defending champions Spain, Montenegro, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. On the competition’s first day Hungary will play Croatia, Spain will take on Montenegro while Romania will play the Czech Republic. The best four teams will advance to the round of 16, to be hosted by Turkey. The 2017 FIBA EUROBASKET final will be played in Istanbul on September 17.



    FOOTBALL — Romania’s football squad is today playing Armenia at home in a match counting towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. On Monday Romanian will take on Montenegro away from home. With 6 points in 6 games, Romania still holds mathematical chances of qualifying. Poland is the unchallenged leader of Group E. For the first time in its history Romania has a foreign coach sitting on its bench, German Cristoph Daum, who is facing constant criticism from the media and football experts due to the subpar performances of the national team. (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • Football Flash

    Football Flash

    Romania’s national football team is playing Poland away from home on June 10th as part of the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. Coach Christoph Daum has called up 26 players, of whom 15 are playing for international clubs and 11 from the domestic championship. Another five players are on the reserve list. Two first-team regulars, defender Dragos Grigore and striker Denis Alibec have sustained injuries in training and are uncertain ahead of the match scheduled to take place in Warsaw.



    Coach Daum told a pre-match press conference that he could give up the number 10 shirt, as fans are overrating this number that belonged to legendary player Gheorghe Hagi and players from the younger generation might not live up to the challenge. Asked whether he considers resigning in case Romania loses against Poland, which would mean our country would fail to qualify, coach Daum said he doesn’t believe this would help the team perform better or that players would improve their game or new players would step up.



    Alexandru Chipciu, who this year was a first lineup regular for Belgium’s champions Anderlecht Brussels, said Romania holds good chances to win against Poland in Warsaw, arguing that Romania’s opponents are neither the world nor the European champions. Chipciu said Romania could win also by putting up a solid defense.



    Poland’s star player is undoubtedly Bayern Munich’s forward Robert Lewandowski, designated best player in Bundesliga this football season. Group E is made up of Romania, Denmark, Poland, Montenegro, Armenia and Kazakhstan. Halfway through the preliminaries, Poland tops the group tables with 13 points, followed by Montenegro with 7 points, Denmark with 7 points, Romania with 6 points, Armenia with 6 points and Kazakhstan with 2 points. After the match against Poland Romania will play a friendly game against Chile on Cluj Arena on June 13.



  • Football Flash

    Football Flash

    Romania’s national football team is playing Poland away from home on June 10th as part of the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. Coach Christoph Daum has called up 26 players, of whom 15 are playing for international clubs and 11 from the domestic championship. Another five players are on the reserve list. Two first-team regulars, defender Dragos Grigore and striker Denis Alibec have sustained injuries in training and are uncertain ahead of the match scheduled to take place in Warsaw.



    Coach Daum told a pre-match press conference that he could give up the number 10 shirt, as fans are overrating this number that belonged to legendary player Gheorghe Hagi and players from the younger generation might not live up to the challenge. Asked whether he considers resigning in case Romania loses against Poland, which would mean our country would fail to qualify, coach Daum said he doesn’t believe this would help the team perform better or that players would improve their game or new players would step up.



    Alexandru Chipciu, who this year was a first lineup regular for Belgium’s champions Anderlecht Brussels, said Romania holds good chances to win against Poland in Warsaw, arguing that Romania’s opponents are neither the world nor the European champions. Chipciu said Romania could win also by putting up a solid defense.



    Poland’s star player is undoubtedly Bayern Munich’s forward Robert Lewandowski, designated best player in Bundesliga this football season. Group E is made up of Romania, Denmark, Poland, Montenegro, Armenia and Kazakhstan. Halfway through the preliminaries, Poland tops the group tables with 13 points, followed by Montenegro with 7 points, Denmark with 7 points, Romania with 6 points, Armenia with 6 points and Kazakhstan with 2 points. After the match against Poland Romania will play a friendly game against Chile on Cluj Arena on June 13.



  • Football Flash

    Football Flash

    Romania national football squads training stage is well underway in Mogosoaia, nearby Bucharest, ahead of this coming Sundays fixture against Denmark. The match counts towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries and will be hosted by a stadium in Cluj



    The Romanian national team at the moment is 4th placed in Group E, with five points grabbed in four games played, and is in dire need of a win to keep their qualification hopes alive. Romanias trail in the preliminaries includes a 1-all home draw against Montenegro, a 5-nil win home draw against Armenia and a blank draw against Kazakhstan in Astana. In the last fixture they played in November 2016 in Bucharest, Romania was defeated by Poland 3-nil.



    In the preliminary stage of the final tournament in 2018, Denmarks record includes two wins and two defeats. Norwegian manager Åge Hareides trainees grabbed a 1-nil home win against Armenia, then another 4-1 win against Kazakhstan, also on home turf, but they sustained a 2-3 defeat against Poland and were also defeated by Montenegro nil-1, at home.



    We recall that in Group E, only the team at the top of the table can book a ticket for the final tournament. The runner-up team stands great chances of getting through to the playoffs. Teams in European countries were divided in nine preliminary groups, and the best eight second-placed teams will advance in the qualification playoffs. In Group E, Poland is the odds-on favorite to winning the top position, so the big clash will be for the second place. At the first glance, only Romania and Denmark mattered, yet Montenegro had a spectacular comeback with their satisfactory results away from home. However, Montenegro sustained a defeat against Armenia in November 2016, thus wasting the opportunity to end 2016 top of the table in their group.


    (Translated by Eugen Nasta)




  • Football Flash

    Football Flash

    Romania national football squads training stage is well underway in Mogosoaia, nearby Bucharest, ahead of this coming Sundays fixture against Denmark. The match counts towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries and will be hosted by a stadium in Cluj



    The Romanian national team at the moment is 4th placed in Group E, with five points grabbed in four games played, and is in dire need of a win to keep their qualification hopes alive. Romanias trail in the preliminaries includes a 1-all home draw against Montenegro, a 5-nil win home draw against Armenia and a blank draw against Kazakhstan in Astana. In the last fixture they played in November 2016 in Bucharest, Romania was defeated by Poland 3-nil.



    In the preliminary stage of the final tournament in 2018, Denmarks record includes two wins and two defeats. Norwegian manager Åge Hareides trainees grabbed a 1-nil home win against Armenia, then another 4-1 win against Kazakhstan, also on home turf, but they sustained a 2-3 defeat against Poland and were also defeated by Montenegro nil-1, at home.



    We recall that in Group E, only the team at the top of the table can book a ticket for the final tournament. The runner-up team stands great chances of getting through to the playoffs. Teams in European countries were divided in nine preliminary groups, and the best eight second-placed teams will advance in the qualification playoffs. In Group E, Poland is the odds-on favorite to winning the top position, so the big clash will be for the second place. At the first glance, only Romania and Denmark mattered, yet Montenegro had a spectacular comeback with their satisfactory results away from home. However, Montenegro sustained a defeat against Armenia in November 2016, thus wasting the opportunity to end 2016 top of the table in their group.


    (Translated by Eugen Nasta)




  • Football Flash

    Football Flash

    Romania’s national football squad on Saturday and Tuesday take on the national teams of Armenia and Kazakhstan, respectively. The fixtures count towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. So far, Group E teams have played one fixture each in September 2016. On home ground, Romania drew level with Montenegro, 1-all, Armenia sustained a 1-nil defeat away from home against Denmark, while on home turf, Kazakhstan held Poland to a 2-all draw.



    In theory, Romania ranks as favorite as compared to both Armenia and Kazakhstan, although its forthcoming fixtures are scheduled away from home. According to the current national teams world rankings, Romania is ranked 32nd, Armenia is ranked 112th, while Kazakhstan is ranked 83rd. We should mention that Kazakhstan went 13 notches up, as compared to the previous month.



    A lot of people pondered over the fact Kazakhstan managed to hold Poland to a 2-all draw. The former team was 2 goals down but it regrouped and even had the chance to win the game. Pundits say that what also mattered for the game was the fact that it was played on artificial turf. Romania’s national team manager, German Christoph Daum has told the media: ”I spoke to the Polish manager Adam Nawalka and he told me that, after the match against Kazakhstan, he was happy his boys came off safe from that pitch, with no injuries. And he is also happy he left Kazakhstan having gained one point.



    Similarly, Joachim Loew told me after one of the German national team’ s fixtures that it was important to return with 1 or 3 points. Unfortunately, in our situation, we’re in dire need of all three points. We’ve got to be strong and overcome every difficulty so that we should have no problem gaining all three points. Let us see what that artificial turf looks like, as there are several generations, several models of it. Anyway, everybody told me we should be happy to leave that kind of turf behind.”





  • Football Flash

    Football Flash

    Romania’s national football squad on Saturday and Tuesday take on the national teams of Armenia and Kazakhstan, respectively. The fixtures count towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. So far, Group E teams have played one fixture each in September 2016. On home ground, Romania drew level with Montenegro, 1-all, Armenia sustained a 1-nil defeat away from home against Denmark, while on home turf, Kazakhstan held Poland to a 2-all draw.



    In theory, Romania ranks as favorite as compared to both Armenia and Kazakhstan, although its forthcoming fixtures are scheduled away from home. According to the current national teams world rankings, Romania is ranked 32nd, Armenia is ranked 112th, while Kazakhstan is ranked 83rd. We should mention that Kazakhstan went 13 notches up, as compared to the previous month.



    A lot of people pondered over the fact Kazakhstan managed to hold Poland to a 2-all draw. The former team was 2 goals down but it regrouped and even had the chance to win the game. Pundits say that what also mattered for the game was the fact that it was played on artificial turf. Romania’s national team manager, German Christoph Daum has told the media: ”I spoke to the Polish manager Adam Nawalka and he told me that, after the match against Kazakhstan, he was happy his boys came off safe from that pitch, with no injuries. And he is also happy he left Kazakhstan having gained one point.



    Similarly, Joachim Loew told me after one of the German national team’ s fixtures that it was important to return with 1 or 3 points. Unfortunately, in our situation, we’re in dire need of all three points. We’ve got to be strong and overcome every difficulty so that we should have no problem gaining all three points. Let us see what that artificial turf looks like, as there are several generations, several models of it. Anyway, everybody told me we should be happy to leave that kind of turf behind.”