Category: Sport

The European football competitions have now reached the group stage. Preparing for the kick start in Europe are two Romanians teams: Steaua Bucharest and Pandurii Targu Jiu. Steaua Bucharest are looking set to prove their mettle in the Champions’ League and Pandurii Targu Jiu will be playing their games in the Europa League.

In their group, Steaua will be rubbing shoulders with Chelsea, Schalke and Basle. The Romanians will be playing their first game in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. Steaua’s as well as Schalke’s domestic record so far are bracing for either team, since the Romanian players thrashed Sageata Navodari on home turf, 5-nil, while Schalke snatched a precious 1-nil away win against Mainz, thanks to a goal scored by Kevin-Prince Boateng, who has been recently transferred from AC Milan.

We should also note that Steaua strengthened their defensive compartment, since they brought back the Greek Pantelis Kapetanos from CFR Cluj; however, Kapetanos is highly unlikely to be included among Steaua’s lineup against this coming Wednesday’s game in Germany.

Pandurii Targu Jiu’s European trail, however, is far more surprising. After having defeated the Portuguese side Sporting Braga in the playoff of the competition, Pandurii are part of a group that also includes Dniepr Dnepropetrovsk from Ukraine, Pacos de Ferreira from Portugal and the Italian side Fiorentina. Pandurii’s domestic record ahead of their first Europe League game against Dniepr, to be played this coming Thursday in Cluj, starting 8 pm, Romanian Time, includes a 2-1 home win against Dinamo Bucharest.

We should not fail to mention, however, that Dniepr are also in top shape, since in their championship they defeated Shakhtar Donetsk, 3-1, while this past Sunday on home turf they snatched a 1-nil win in the game against Tavria Simferopol.

The game started on a balanced note. Both teams wasted good scoring opportunities, but the most relevant such opportunity was wasted by Romania on 15 minutes, when a Turkish defender deflected into the crossbar the ball sent in by Cristian Tanase. The first to score, however, were the guests. On 22 minutes, when the ball reached the Romanians’ box, Burak Yilmaz jumped higher than Romania’s central defenders and his header sent the ball into the left-hand corner of the goal.

Romania had been prepared for a defensive game, yet they had no other choice than to attack. Since Victor Piturca’s lineup was not fit for that kind of game, the guests dominated the first half of the match.

In the second half of the game, however, the manager replaced Gabriel Torje and Ciprian Marica with Alexandru Maxim and Adi Popa, respectively. The move gave the Romanian team a fresh impetus for the rest of the game, and their attacking bouts grew stronger and faster than those of their opponents. Scoring opportunities were quick to appear, but they were much too easily wasted by the Romanians, who on 69 minutes were a whisk away from scoring, as Adi Popa’s ball hit the Turks’ left post.

In the last seconds of the extra time, Turkey’s Mevlut Erdinc scored again, and his team walked away with a precious 2-nil victory.

In preliminary group D, Romania is 4^th-placed. The Netherlands are still top of the table, with 20 points on their record sheet. The Dutch have already secured their qualification to the World Cup. Hungary had the chance of the runner-up position, with 14 points. Third-placed is Turkey with 13 points, on a par with Romania, but with a higher goal-average.

Considering the group’s two last legs, Romania ranks favorite to the runner-up position, the one that actually paves the way for the playoffs. It still has to play against Andorra and Estonia, but from now on the Romanians should try really hard to earn every point they need. Hungary and Turkey will both be taking on the Netherlands, which is a good team and has already booked its ticket for the World Cup. The preliminaries’ last two legs are scheduled for October 11^th and 15^th, respectively.

In Bucharest, the Romanians take on Turkey, in a match counting towards Group D of the World Cup’s qualifiers. The as-it-stands table reveals that Romania is on the runner-up position in the group, with 13 points on their record sheet, having outclassed third-placed Hungary, which has 11 points. Even if Turkey holds Romania to a draw, our national team rank as the main favorite for the runner-up position in their group. A win, however, is sure to secure the Romanians their ticket for the World Cup’s play –off session.

Tonight, Turkey will be pinning all its hopes on an experienced team, which includes a string of stars, such as Atletico Madrid’s Arda Turan or Nuri Sahin, who plays for Real Madrid, but who is currently on loan with the German side Borussia Dortmund. Yet the Turks’ heavyweight piece is Fatih Terim, one of Europe’s most respected and most valuable football managers.

In his latest press statements, Fatih Terim was very realistic, saying a miracle was needed for Turkey to keep their hopes alive to make headway into the competition. However, Terim was upbeat about the fact that such a thing might occur for his side.

A real stumbling block for the Turkish manager, however, is a Romanian team that this past Friday crushed Hungary, 3-nil. Furthermore, manager Victor Piturca’s trainees put on a strong and coherent performance, as well as a very special tactical discipline. If tonight the Romanians are as strong as last Friday, they are sure to snatch a good result. The Turks are in dire need of a win and will be putting on an offensive game; the Romanians, on the other hand, will only have to put on a very good defensive game, peppered with audacious counterattacking bouts.

Ahead of tonight’s game, head-to-heads reveals that Romania ranks as favorites Out of 23 games played, the Romanians won 12, lost 4 and managed 7 draws.

The resort of Mamaia on the Romanian Black Sea Coast will be hosting the National Team Chess Championship, bringing together 10 teams in the women’s competition and 10 teams in the men’s competition. The novelty this year consists in the structure of women’s teams, which are made up of 3 senior players and a junior player, as compared to the previous year when teams included two seniors and one junior.

Just like in previous editions, clubs taking part in the men’s Superleague can use a maximum of 2 foreign players in the team, which must comprise a total of 6 players, of whom one must be a Romanian junior player. The women’s Superleague allows for the use of a single foreign player, while clubs must enroll teams comprising 4 players, of whom one must be a Romanian junior player. Although restricted, the right to use foreign players has added increased value to the internal Romanian chess championship.

Several players from the World’s Top 10 will be competing in this year’s edition. One of them is 8th ranked Kateryna Lagno of the Ukraine, who has an ELO of 2532 points and plays for Politehnica Antibiotice Iasi. Elina Danelian of Armenia, ranked 29th in world standings, has an ELO of 2470 points and plays for AEM Luxten Timisoara.

Ekaterina Atalik of Turkey is now 49th placed in world standings, has an ELO of 2433 points, and plays for CS Studentesc Medicina Timisoara. Other players worth mentioning are CSM Bucuresti’s Corina Peptan, ranked 51st in world standings with an ELO of 2429 points and Politehnica Iasi’s Irina Bulmaga, ranked 75th with an ELO of 2387 points. These players are actually part of last year’s winning teams.

AEM Luxten Timisoara, Apa Nova Bucuresti and CS Studentesc Medicina Timisoara have been taking turns at winning first place for the past several years in the men’s Superleague. Last year the exception was the Baia Mare Municipality Chess Club, which became national vice-champion, with Medicina Timisoara having to sit out that year’s podium.

This year Baia Mare has strengthened its team, singning Dieter Nisipeanu, Romania’s best chess player at present and the only Romanian in the World’s Top 100, as well as Levente Vajda, ranked 3rd in national standings in terms of the ELO rating system. In 2012 AEM Luxten Timisoara won the championship. Its three members, Constantin Lupulescu, Mircea Parligras and Vladislav Nevednicii are also part of Romania’s national team.

Last year Romanian chess players had outstanding results at the 40th edition of the Team Chess Olympiad, ranking 5th in the women’s competition and 8th in the men’s competition. Previously Romania had managed to finish the competition among the world’s best 10 teams only in 1998, at the Elista Olympiad in Russia, when the women’s team ranked 6th.

On the other hand Romania’s men’s team had last made it to the world’s top 10 at the Thessaloniki Olympiad of 1984. Let us further note that Constantin Lupulescu has recently ranked 5th at the European individual chess championships of Poland, having the same number of points as the medallists.

Similar performances were reported in the 1990s, when Irina Spirlea was seeded 7th and Ruxandra Dragomir was seeded 19th. On Monday, Simona Halep ranked 19th after last week she had won the WTA tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, the USA with prize money of 690,000 dollars. For that performance, RRI has designated Simona Halep Athlete of the Week.

In New Haven, Halep first defeated Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-1. In the eight finals, she eliminated Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Then, in the quarter finals, the Romanian tennis player beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 7-6. In the semifinals, Halep defeated Danish Caroline Wozniacki, former leader in the world standings, 6-2, 7-5. Simona Halep won the final against Czech Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-2.

Halep, who had won 14 of her latest 16 matches, got 117,000 dollars and 470 WTA points. She thus confirmed her excellent shape, adding her fourth WTA title to those she had won this year in Nurnberg, Budapest and Hertogenbosch.

Born in the sea port town of Constanta on September 27th 1991, Simona Halep is coached by Adrian Marcu, a former player of the Romanian Davis Cup team.

Former football legend Costica Stefanescu died on Tuesday in tragic circumstances. Stefanescu had been diagnosed with an incurable disease, and thus chose to end his life by throwing himself off the fifth floor of the Military Hospital in Bucharest, where he had been admitted for specialist care. The authorities have started an investigation in order to ascertain the exact circumstances of the death of the great former

Costica Stefanescu played for Romania in the 1977-1985 period and grabbed a total of 66 caps in the first team. He was named national team captain at the 1984 European Championship.

He made his debut at Steaua Bucharest in 1969, where he played until 1973. He was then signed by Universitatea Craiova, one of the best teams of the Romanian First League at the time. It was there that he rose to fame and got his best performances, playing both as central defender and fullback. Stefanescu spent 13 seasons at Universitatea Craiova. In 1983 he made a valuable contribution to get his team all the way to the UEFA Cup semifinals. In 1986 he transferred to FC Brasov, where he chose to hang up his boots in 1988.

He had a total of 490 caps in the Romanian First League, a record he held onto for a long time, until October 2012, when he was outrun by Ionel Danciulescu of Dinamo Bucharest.

As a player, Costica Stefanescu won the Romanian Cup three times with Steaua Bucharest, in 1969, 1970 and 1971, and four times with Universitatea Craiova, in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1983. He also won the title with Universitatea Craiova in 1974, 1980 and 1981.

Later on, when he took up coaching, Costica Stefanescu trained several teams at home, among which FC Brasov, Steaua Bucharest, FCM Bacau, FC Timisoara, Astra Ploiesti and Universitatea Craiova. He also had a short spell abroad, coaching teams in the Arab world. In the 1994-1998 period he was Anghel Iordanescu’s second coach at Romania’s national team.

On Wednesday, as of 9.45 PM, Steaua will play on the National Arena in Bucharest against the Polish team Legia Warsaw, in the Champion League’s playoffs round. The Romanian team was first seeded in the drawing of lots for this stage of the competition and is considered favorite. Furthermore, Steaua’s 3-0 win against the 2012 champion, CFR Cluj, seems to have brought more optimism to the footballers coached by Laurenţiu Reghecampf.

The Romanian teams which hope to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League will play their first matches on Thursday. As of 7.30 PM, Astra Giurgiu will meet the team Macabi Haifa of Israel. The Romanian team is in good shape and is in the lead of the First League, with a maximum of 12 points. Furthermore, in the last leg of the championship, Astra won 3-1 in an away match played against another Europa League group stage hopeful, Pandurii Targu Jiu.

As regards Pandurii, the team will play as of 9 PM in Cluj, against the Portuguese side Sporting Braga. Although it stands the second chance to qualify, Pandurii hopes to make it to the group stage, thanks to their performance in the Europa League matches they have played so far.

The match between the Welsh team Swansea and Petrolul Ploiesti is due to start at 21.05 PM. The Britons stand the first chance and play on home soil. They have made it to the European competition after winning the English Football League Cup. They also ranked 9th in the last season of the Premier League. In its turn, Petrolul has already eliminated a prestigious Dutch team, Vitesse Arnhem, so a new surprise might just be around.

Moscow is hosting these days the 2013 World Athletics Championship. Romanian Marian Oprea managed to qualify in the triple jump final scheduled for Sunday. In Friday’s qualifications, he jumped 16.91 m, the 7-th best result in the competition. Another Romanian athlete, Bianca Perie, has qualified for the women’s hammer final on Friday night.

Before moving on to the games scheduled this weekend in the 5th leg of the Romanian football championship, we should mention the 1-all draw at the National Arena in Bucharest on Wednesday night, in the match between Romania and Slovakia. The two scorers were Romania’s Stancu and Slovakia’s Sestak. It was a lackluster game in terms of the Romanian team’s performance, which is why, at the end of the game, many fans demanded that coach Victor Piturca leave. Worth mentioning is also that it was Victor Piturca’s 84th game as coach of the national football team, and Victor Piturca thus broke Anghel Iordanescu’s record of 83 games at the helm of the national squad. It was also the first game with Vlad Chiriches as team captain. The friendly with Slovakia was the last verification game ahead of the matches with Hungary and Turkey in September, in the playoffs for the 2014 World Championship.

As I said, this weekend games will be played in the 5th leg of the Romanian football championship. On Friday Otelul Galati plays against FC Brasov, Poli Timisoara against FC Botosani and Corona Brasov against Dinamo Bucharest. On Saturday, Pandurii Tg Jiu takes on Astra Giurgiu (both teams qualified in the Europa League), Petrolul Ploiesti will meet Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt and Steaua Bucharest will play against CFR Cluj. Only one game is scheduled for Sunday, the one pitching Viitorul Constanta against Gaz Metan Medias. The leg concludes on Monday with two matches, Universitatea Cluj against Concordia Chiajna and FC Vaslui against Sageata Navodari. Before this round, Poli Timisoara ranked first in the tables, with 10 points, followed by Astra Giurgiu with 9 points and FC Botosani and Petrolul Ploiesti with 8 points each.

The Romanian football side Steaua Bucharest made significant progress towards the last Champions League qualifying stage as they defeated the Georgian side Dinamo Tbilisi away 2-nil in the first leg of this competition’s third preliminary round. Gabriel Iancu scored both goals, in the 64th and 80th minutes.

The game got off to an evenly balanced start, as the hosts, managed by Dushan Uhrin, a former manager of the Romanian side Poli Timisoara, put up a good defence, fighting to hold the ball and launching dangerous counterattacks. In fact, Steaua only sent one shot to goal in the first half of the game.

In the second half, the difference between the two sides in terms of the physical form of their players started to become visible, with Steaua gradually taking over control of the game. However, it was Dinamo Tbilisi that first came close to score.

In the 60th minute, Steaua’s defender Iasmin Latovlevic touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area and the referee awarded Dinamo a penalty kick. Dinamo’s Spanish player Xisco took the penalty kick, but Steaua’s goal keeper Ciprian Tatarusanu defended it. From that moment on, Steaua dominated the game and scored four minutes later when midfielder Gabriel Iancu, who did not play in the first half, defeated the Georgian goal keeper Loria with a powerful shot from outside the box. Iancu scored again in the 80th minute, following a pass from Ciprian Tanase.

The return game between Steaua and Dinamo Tbilisi is scheduled for the 6th of August on the National Arena stadium in Bucharest.

The 50th leg of Romania’s Cycling Tour or the Little Loop kick-started on June the 30th in Marghita, a town in the northwestern Romanian county of Bihor. It was not without good reason that the event’s organizers picked up that departure point, since the town is home to the Belotto Cycling Wear, the textile factory which since 1994 has had a line for professional cyclists.

The competition in Romania is included in the International Cycling Union’s calendar; a maximum number of 17 teams are entitled to line up for the start, while the competition’s elite and under-23 versions can have between 4 and 6 cyclists in their teams. The overall length of the tour is 1,033 kilometers, while the total prize money up for grabs stands at 17, 543 Euros, of which 5, 845 Euros for the final general standings and 10, 818 Euros for the leg-by-leg awards, with 1,893 Euros at stake for each leg. The Tour’s final winner will cash a cheque of 2,200 Euros, the runner-up position will be awarded 1,250 Euros, while the third-placed cyclist will get 600 Euros. Also, the winner of the Romanian Cycling Tour will be given 40 International Cycling Union points, while the 8th-placed cyclist will have 8 points on his record sheet.

The Little Loop has now reached its 3rd leg, which is also the longest one. Cyclists will compete along a distance of 197,8 kilometers on a variegated route, with Bicaz as the departure point, a town in Romania’s Eastern Carpathians, and will be heading towards north-east, to the towns of Piatra Neamt, Roman, Tirgu Frumos, while the town of Botosani will be the event’s final destination. Ahead of the leg an 80 km long transshipment is scheduled, which will start from Miercurea Ciuc in Transylvania, heading towards the Moldavian town of Bicaz, which is the event’s starting point, technically speaking.

The podium has for quite some time seen an all-Ukrainian domination; wearing the yellow T-shirt is Vitali But, from Kolls, and following in descending order are Mihail Kononenko and Volodimir Zagorodnai. Wearing the green T-shirt, that of the climbers is the Spaniard Gonzali De La Parte from Tableware. Wearing the white T-shirt for pugnacity is the Greek George Boudas, while wearing the red T-shirt, that of the sprinters is Abel Kenyeres from Hungary. Wearing the blue T-shirt ,which usually goes to the best Romanian cyclist is Oleg Bedros, and the T-shirt for the best Under-23 Romanian cyclist is on Eduard Grosu. The Little Loop’s jubilee edition will draw to a close on July the 6th.

The Romanian delegation returned from Portugal with no less that six medals, contrary to the expectations of the local rowing federation. Romanian rowers participated in 12 finals in total. In the women’s 1,000 meter kayak double finals, Irina Lauric and Bianca Plesca came in third, winning Romania’s first bronze medal in the competition. In the men’s 1,000 m canoe double, Liviu Dumitrescu and Victor Mihalachi also won the bronze medal.

In the 1,000 m coxed four race, the Romanian crew made up of Gabriel Gheoca, Catalin Costache, Iosif Chirila and Florin Comanici came in second. In the 500 m canoe double final, Liviu Dumitrescu and Victor Mihalachi won silver.

In the 200 m race, women rowers Roxana Borha and Iulia Taran finished in the third position, winning the third bronze medal for the Romanian delegation. The fourth bronze came from Florin Comanici in the men’s 5,000 m singles race.

Mihaela Lulea and Iulian Serban put on a remarkable performance in the paracanoe races. Mihaela Lulea came in second in the kayak finals, while Iulian Serban came in first in the men’s kayak finals to win his fourth European title in a row.

In the other finals, Iosif Chirila finished 8th in the men’s single 500 m canoe finals, Roxana Barhon and Iulian Taran came in 6th in the men’s 500 m kayak double finals, Ionut Mitrea came in 8th in the men’ s 200 m kayak singles finals, while Ionut Mitrea and Iulian Serban came in 9th in the men’s 200 m kayak double finals.

In the women’s epee singles Branza outperformed Francesca Quondamcario of Italy score 15-11. In the men’s saber finals Tiberiu Doniceanu scooped gold after easing past Aleksey Yakimenko of Russia.

For their remarkable achievements we have designated Ana Maria Branza and Tiberiu Dolniceanu Athletes of the Week on Radio Romania International.

Ana Maria Branza will turn 28 this November. She was born in Bucharest. So far Branza has an impressive record sheet. She won silver in the women’s singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She also scooped bronze in the women’s singles, first at the 2002 World Championships, then at the 2011 World Championships. In 2008 she won silver and in 2011 she climbed onto the third step of the podium. Along the years Ana Maria Branza has also made a valuable contribution to Romania’s epee team. Together with her teammates, Ana Maria Branza has won 2 world titles, 4 continental gold medals and two silver medals in European competitions.

Tiberiu Dolniceanu is 25 years old and was born in the northeastern city of Iasi. His career best so far was winning silver at the 2012 London Olympics with Romania’s saber team. In 2009 he won gold in the men’s team saber event at the World Championships held in Antalya, Turkey. His record sheet includes another bronze medal at the 2010 World Championships and a silver medal at the 2012 European Championships, both in the men’s team saber competitions. Last week’s gold medal marks Tiberiu Dolniceanu’s first notable achievement in men’s singles competitions.

Simona Halep defeated Andrea Petkovic from Germany in the finals 6-3, 6-3 in a game that lasted one hour and 24 minutes. In the early stages of the competition, Simona Halep outperformed Grace Min from the United States, then she defeated Spanish Estrella Cabeza Candela, Galina Voskoboeva of Kazahstan and Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic. After all those matches the Romanian player managed to secure her first international circuit trophy although she’s so far been present in the finals of international competitions three times, twice in Fes, in 2010 and 2011 and once in Brussels in 2012. The result she obtained in Nuremberg has pushed Simona 13 positions up in the WTA standings where she is currently ranking 45th. This achievement prompted our radio station to designate her ‘Athlete of the Week’.

Born in Constanta on the Romanian Black Sea coast on September the 27th 1991 Simona Halep is the eighth Romanian female tennis player to clinch at least one WTA title, after Virginia Ruzici, Irina Sparlea, Ruxandra Dragomir, Alexandra Dulgheru, Sorana Carstea, Irina Begu and Monica Niculescu, the latter four still active players. She gaine first prize in the under-21 Roland Garros tournament, which she won against another Romanian, Elena Bogdan. This year, Simona made it to the semis of the WTA tournament in Rome and reached her best position, 37th, in the world standings on May the 28th 2012.

Worth noting is that other Romanian players put on excellent shows in the Nuremberg tennis tournament. Raluca Olaru paired with Russian Valeria Solovieva to win the doubles 2-7, 7-6, 11-9 against the German-Czech pair made up of Anna-Lena Gronfeld and Kveta Peschke.

Last week the city of Minsk in Belarus played host to the European Amateur Boxing Championships. Romania’s delegation comprised six boxers, of which only one managed to get his name onto a medal. Bogdan Juratoni won silver in the 75 kilogram category, after pulling a series of outstanding results. For his remarkable achievement, we have designated Bogdan Juratoni Athlete of the Week on Radio Romania International.

Juratoni was seeded second in the competition, and boxed his first fight against Aston Brown of Scotland in the eighth-finals. After outpointing Brown, the Romanian boxer eased past host country favourite Vitaly Bondarenko in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals Bogdan faced Zoltan Harcsa of Hungary. The Hungarian however sustained a hand injury during the fight and was forced to withdraw 48 seconds into the second bout.

In the finals Bogdan Juratoni went up against Jason Quigley of Ireland. According to Agerpres news agency, the Irish boxer won the first bout, with several powerful punches hitting his target. Juratoni came back strong in the second bout, and it was now Quigley’s turn to block. Agerpres reports that Bogdan put on a strong fight in the last bout as well, when Quigley’s strength levels were wearing down, noting that despite that fact that Juratoni was obviously the better fighter when the bell signaled the end of the fight, the referees undeservedly ruled Quigley winner on points. The Romanian boxer thus scooped silver.

Bogdan Juratoni will be 23 on June 17. His record sheet also includes bronze at the 2011 World Boxing Championships of Baku. In 2012 he was Romania’s only representative in the boxing competition at the 2012 London Olympics, where he failed to get past the first qualifying round.

Romania’s national rugby team have had an auspicious start in the international competition season. In the first two legs of the European Nations’ Cup, the Romanian record was a win-all one. On February the 2nd they defeated Portugal away from home, 19-13, while this past weekend the Romanians defeated Russia, 29-14.

We won’t fail to say, however, that since Portugal was no easy meat for the Romanians, the forecasts for the game against Russia have rapidly become more cautious. Head-to-heads reveal that in recent years Russia has succeeded a string of wins against Romania, even in Bucharest.

This past Saturday in Bucharest the Russians had a better start with a more coherent game and less mistakes than the Romanians. At half time, the guest team had a 11-6 lead, following a try and two successfully converted penalty kicks. Although they attacked more and dominated the created and loose scrums, the Romanians managed only two penalty kicks, through Florin Vlaicu.

In the second half of the game the Romanians managed to turn the tables, since the power of their forward pack and a significantly smaller number of unprovoked mistakes got them have the upper hand on the pitch. Florin Vlaicu was the man of the match. He succeeded 24 out of Romania’s final number of 29 points. Florin Vlaicu’s record proudly includes the most beautiful moment of the game. As one of the Russians’ attacking bouts was in full swing, the Romanian spectacularly intercepted the ball and succeeded a try, after a race of about 30 meters.

For his very special performance and his significant contribution to the Romanians’ win in the game against Russia, Radio Romania International has designated Florin Vlaicu the Athlete of the Week.

Florin Vlaicu was born on July 26, 1986 in Bucharest, and throughout his career so far he has been playing for Steaua Bucharest. On and off, Vlaicu was included in the lineup representing Romania in the Amlin Cup, actually for the Bucharest Wolves. Florin Vlaicu made his debut in the national squad as a substitute in the match against Ukraine. He was a regular player in Romania’s team in the two editions of the World Cup, the one in 2007 and the 2011 edition, respectively.