Radio România Internațional

Tag: defensive

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    Romanian football team FCSB after two rounds in Europa league has six points on their record sheet, out of a similar number of matches played. This past Thursday, holders FCSM succeeded a precious 1-nil away win against Greek team PAOK Thessalonica. For FCSB, it was the second win in a row.

    It was a difficult game, all the more so as, from 55 minutes, FCSB were one man shy on the pitch since Darius Olaru was eliminated, being twice yellow-booked. The one-goal advantage provided by Daniel Barligea’s feat in added time was as frail as ever, yet FCSB succeeded to maintain the advantage. There were moments when FCSB’s defensive line-up proved powerless, yet goalie Stefan Tarnovanu made the difference with a couple of stunning saves.

    Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Tarnovanu the Athlete of the week.
    In Thessalonica, Tarnovanu succeeded his first save in minute 9, when he deflected Ghanaian Abdul Rahman Baba’s header. Then on 39 minutes Tarnovanu succeeded yet another last-gasp save as Brazilian Taison attempted a shot at goal.

    In the second half, Tarnovanu again shone, thanks to a couple of saves he succeeded just six minutes after Olaru was eliminated, when Giannis Konstantelias shot the ball from inside FCSB’s box, or when he deflected Russian Magomed Ozdoev’s header. Tarnovanu was again put to the test on 85 minutes, then again, in the first minute of extra time, when he twice deflected Tiémoué Bakayoko’s header. In the seventh minute of added time, Tarnovanu proved he was also lucky: when shot by Ioannis Michailidis, the ball touched one of the posts and the score stayed the same.

    Ştefan Târnovanu was born on May 9, 2000 in Iasi, in the east. He made his debut in football with the local Politehnica’s juniors team. As a senior footballer, in 2018 Stefan Tarnovanu made his debut in League One, when Politehnica Iasi drew against Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe, 1-all. Stefan has been playing for FCSB since 2020. We recall FCSB won the domestic champion title in 2024. Stefan Tarnovanu made his debut with the national team in November 2022, in Romania’s friendly match against Republic of Moldova, when Romania won, 5-nil. Tarnovanu was a full-timer in the national squad’s most recent game in the League of Nations, when Romania grabbed a 3-1 win against Lithuania.

  • Radio Romania International Sports Club

    Radio Romania International Sports Club

    The main European inter-club competition, the Champions League, this year as well, will see no Romanian team booking its place for the event. In the first preliminary round, holders Farul Constanta lost to Republic of Moldova title holders, Sheriff Tiraspol. In the first leg on home turf Farul grabbed a 1-nil win, yet this past Tuesday Sheriff Tiraspol secured a 3-nil win after extra time.



    The fixture was initially scheduled in Republic of Moldovas capital city, Chisinau, yet the match was eventually hosted by the very arena of Sheriff football club, located in the main city of separatist region Trans-Dniester, Tiraspol. A small party of Constanta-based fans was in the stands, people who stopped at nothing on their way to Tiraspol, in a bid to support their favorite team.



    With a minimum advantage, Farul began the match on a predominantly defensive note, with no bouts of their usual, combinatorial and aggressive game. They withstood their opponents game towards the end of the first half when Moroccan player Amine Talal drew first blood for Sheriff as Cameroon Ngom Mbekeli crossed the ball in front of Farul s goal.



    The second half was a little bit more balanced yet Gheorghe Hagis trainees were unable to secure a vigorous comeback on the pitch and have the upper hand throughout the game. The scoreboard for the regular, 90-minute time displayed a 1-nil advantage for Sheriff Tiraspol so two extra time halves followed. Taking advantage of Farul flawed defensive game, Sheriffs footballers scored twice, through Ngom Bekeli on 99 minutes and Nigerian Peter Ademo in minute 105. Farul will thus play in the preliminary round of the third-tier European competition, Conference League, where they are pitted against Armenias title holders, FC Urartu. We recall the latter team was eliminated from the Champions League preliminaries by Bosnian opponents Zrinjski Mostar.



    Four Romanian teams will play in the second round of Europa Conference League preliminaries. The first leg in scheduled next week, On Wednesday, FCSB take on ŢSKA Sofia 1948, away from home, in a match hosted by the Bulgarian capital citys Vasil Levski stadium. On Thursday, in a fixture hosted by the Bălgarska Armia stadium, also in Sofia, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe face ŢSKA-Sofia. CFR Cluj play a home match against Turkeys Adana Demirspor, while Farul play FC Urartu of Armenia.



  • May 12, 2021 UPDATE

    May 12, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 Romania stays in the so-called green scenario as Bucharest and all counties report COVID-19 infection rates below 1.5 per thousand. In the past 24 hours 930 new cases were reported, out of over 24,300 tests conducted acros the country. The Strategic Communication Group announced another 98 COVID-related deaths, which brings the total death toll to 29,233, and 874 patients in intensive care. The coordinator of the vaccine rollout Valeriu Gheorghiţă said the fall in infection numbers is the result of the immunisation campaign. Over 3.7 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 2.5 million have also got the booster dose. People may get jabs without prior appointment in all vaccination centres in the country. After Timişoara (west) and the capital Bucharest, another major city, Craiova (south), is organising a vaccination marathon, with similar events scheduled this weekend in other cities in Romania.



    RECOVERY The PM of Romania Florin Cîţu reconfirmed, during his
    meeting with the European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis in
    Brussels on Wednesday, the Romanian government’s goal to ensure economic
    recovery and sustainable post-pandemic economic growth, with a focus on reform
    and investments.Florin Cîţu also voiced gratitude to the European
    Commission for its support, guidance and cooperation, after the talks on
    Romania’s priorities as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan held
    on Wednesday with Margrethe Vestager, EC executive vice-president. Previously,
    the Romanian PM had also had talks with Adina Vălean, European Commissioner for
    Transport.



    PUBLIC MEDIA As of Tuesday night, Romania’s public radio and TV corporations have new interim directors. Parliament has appointed journalist Liviu Popescu as head of the Romanian public radio, while Ramona Saseanu has become interim director of the national TV. The two are to hold these positions for 6 months, until the appointment of new boards of directors for the two institutions. On Tuesday, Parliament rejected the annual reports submitted by the two institutions for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, which entailed the dismissal of the 2 boards of directors.



    ECONOMY Romanias economy is expected to grow by 5.1% in 2021 and 4.9% next year, according to the spring economic forecast made public by the European Commission. The institution has upgraded its February estimates, when it forecast a 3.8% growth this year and 4% in 2022. Brussels also expects the unemployment rate in Romania to go up from 5% last year to 5.2% in 2021, but to drop to 4.8% in 2022. Inflation is also set to reach 2.9% this year, with a slight decrease to 2.7% predicted for next year. According to the same forecast, the budget deficit will drop from 9.2% of GDP last year to 8% of GDP this year and to 7.1% of GDP next year.



    CONFERENCE Strengthening Romanias Strategic Partnership with Poland underscores the special relationship and the firm commitment to contributing to regional security, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said in a message on Wednesday at an international conference devoted to the centennial of the Romania-Poland Defensive Alliance. The event was hosted by the Romanian Embassy in Poland. The head of the Romanian state mentioned that the Romanian-Polish Defensive Alliance signed in 1921 was the first regional collective security project and the first strategic partnership with Poland.



    DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign ministry confirmed that the Russian Federation declared the deputy military attaché with the Romanian Embassy in Moscow, Alin Iliescu, a persona non grata, in retaliation to a similar measure taken by Romania on April 26 with respect to the Russian Embassys deputy military attaché Aleksey Grishaev. Romanian authorities argued that the decision was prompted by Grishaevs activity, which came against the 1961 Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. Many central and east-European ex-communist countries made similar decisions to expel Russian diplomats in the past few weeks. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Romanian Cup in football

    Romanian Cup in football

    Football
    Club Steaua Bucharest, FCSB, this past Wednesday won Romanian Cup in football. In
    the final, FCSB outclassed Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe, 1-nil. The fixture was hosted
    by the Ilie Oana Stadium in Ploiesti, southern Romania. FCSB’s Dennis Man
    scored the only goal of the match in minute 65.


    FCSB
    enjoyed the advantage of ranking as favorites, since they compete in Group 2,
    which is domestic League One’s upper echelon. As for Group 1 opponents Sepsi,
    the grim prospects of relegation still loomed large, let alone the footballers
    state of exhaustion, since they had one match every three days on schedule.


    Notwithstanding,
    in the first half, Sepsi were in no way the minnows in the match against FCSB,
    proving they were a team to be reckoned with. Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe were more
    active, quite often dominating FCSB’s half of the pitch. The latter team only
    had a couple of counterattacking bouts and several attempted shots on target,
    which posed a problem for Sepsi’s goalie Roland Niczuly. In the second half,
    Sepsi’s impetus simply fizzled out and FCSB were quick to place themselves in
    control. Dennis Man’s goal was scored at random and was made possible by the hesitation
    of Sepsi’s defensive lineup. However, the goal occurred quite logically, being
    the outcome of FCSB’s performance of the pitch. Several other scoring
    opportunities occurred for FCSB later on, yet the team from Bucharest did
    little short of wasting them all. FCSB’s job on the pitch was made easier since
    Sepsi’s French player Bouhenna got yellow-booked twice in only a couple of
    minutes and was eliminated in minute 79. Towards the end of the game, Sepsi’s
    pride galvanized the team and they became a little bit more dangerous as Sepsi
    managed to advance towards FCSB’s posts for a couple of times. Nonetheless, all
    throughout the game, Sepsi did not succeed a single attempted shot on target.


    FCSB thus
    added the 23rd Cup of Romania to their record. 2015 was the year
    when FCSB had last won the cup. Back then the team from Bucharest grabbed a
    3-nil win against Universitatea Cluj on the National Arena. For Sepsi, playing
    in Romania’s Cup final was an absolute first. FCSB’s win booked them the ticket
    for Europa League’s preliminaries. A qualifying League One position has enabled
    another Romanian team, FC Botosani, to go through to Europa League as well.




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