This week saw
matches counting towards the round of 32 in the Romanian Football Cup. The
games were played on the home turf of the lower-tier team. In the case of
matches played in the evening and televised live, where the home club lacked
the necessary floodlighting equipment, the organizers rented the nearest
stadium that has the equipment.
On Thursday, in
Zlatna, in front of a 3,000-strong crowd, the third-league team Unirea Alba
Iulia took on Romanian vice-champions, FCSB. The latter advanced with
difficulty, winning narrowly 1-nil, thanks to a late goal scored by Raul
Rusescu on minute 84. Gaz Metan Medias had an equally tough job at securing
qualification after facing third-league team Bucovina Radauti. The final score
was 8-7 for Medias after the penalty shootout. The hosts scored the first goal
on minute 83. Gaz Metan evened the odds in stoppage time with a goal scored by
Portuguese Yazalde. The score was 1-all after extra time, Gaz Metan eventually
winning the penalty shootout.
A total of
twelve teams from the First League have qualified to the round of 16: trophy
holders Universitatea Craiova, FC Voluntari, Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe, Dinamo
Bucharest, Politehnica Iasi, Dunarea Calarasi, FC Hermannstadt, Viitorul
Constanta, CFR Cluj, Astra Giurgiu, Gaz Metan Medias and FCSB. Adding to the
list are two teams from the second league, CS Mioveni and Universitatea Cluj,
and two third-league teams, Csikszereda Miercurea Ciuc and Turris – Oltul Turnu
Magurele.
In other news
from football, let’s look ahead at matches counting towards the 10th
round of the 2018-2019 regular season.
On Friday Dinamo Bucharest is
taking on Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe. On Saturday, FC
Voluntari will play FC Botosani at home. On Sunday, Gaz Metan Medias will go up
against Poli Iasi, Viitorul Constanta will play Astra Giurgiu, while FC
Hermannstadt will take on FCSB. On Monday, Concordia Chiajna is playing Dunarea
Calarasi, while CFR Cluj is pitted against Universitatea Craiova.
FCSB tops the
league tables with 18 points, followed by Astra Giurgiu with 17 points.
(Translated by V. Palcu)