Sports Mole previews Monday’s Nations League clash between Romania and Cyprus, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Still uncertain of their UEFA Nations League fate after seeing their last match abandoned, Romania will welcome Cyprus to Bucharest on Monday.
The Tricolorii top League C Group 2 heading into the final matchday, but the fallout from Friday’s controversial clash with Kosovo could yet threaten their promotion hopes.
Match preview
After maintaining their perfect Group 2 record in October, Romania sat top of the table with 12 points ahead of this month’s fixtures, meaning that a home draw with second-placed Kosovo would see them promoted to Europe’s second tier.
However, with Friday’s game goalless in second-half stoppage time, the Kosovan players walked off after complaining of pro-Serbia chanting from the home fans at Bucharest’s Arena Nationala.
The match was initially suspended before being abandoned when the visitors refused to return; so, amid talk of racism from one side and conspiracy from the other, the matter will be referred to UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body.
All of which leaves Mircea Lucescu‘s squad unsure of their Nations League future, despite sitting three points clear of their nearest automatic-promotion rivals with one game remaining.
Winning the group would also improve Romania’s prospects of gaining a World Cup playoff – should they falter in qualifying – but, shrouded in uncertainty, they must now simply focus on the task of beating Cyprus for the second time in six weeks.
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When these nations met in October, Dennis Man‘s opening goal secured an early lead for the Romanians in Cyprus, before the Tricolorii went on to secure a comfortable 3-0 win.
A subsequent loss to Kosovo by the same scoreline meant that Sofronis Avgousti‘s side still needed one more point to secure safety in League C, as they resumed their Nations League campaign on Friday evening.
Following up their first-day win over the same opponents, they edged a close contest against Lithuania, with goals from Grigoris Kastanos and Marinos Tzionis earning a 2-1 victory in Larnaca.
With the fear of relegation averted and promotion unattainable, Cyprus essentially have nothing to play for on the final matchday – particularly as they are already bound for pot four in the World Cup qualifying draw.
Having slipped to 127th in FIFA’s latest world rankings, though, back-to-back wins would certainly boost their standing in that regard.
Romania Nations League form:
Romania form (all competitions):
Cyprus Nations League form:
Cyprus form (all competitions):
Team News
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Not prone to changing his starting XI too much, Mircea Lucescu may be tempted to make more use of his squad on Monday, given that Romania are strong favourites to prevail.
The 79-year-old coach usually deploys a 4-3-3 formation, with captain Nicolae Stanciu featuring in midfield and Trabzonspor centre-forward Denis Dragus spearheading an attacking triumvirate.
FSCB’s Daniel Birligea – who has scored three goals in four Europa League games this season – and Denis Alibec are contenders to displace Dragus up front, while either one of Parma pair Dennis Man and Valentin Mihaila could make way from the wide roles.
Meanwhile, Cyprus have switched from a back three to a 4-2-3-1 setup during the course of this Nations League campaign, but Sofronis Avgousti might consider adding extra defensive cover on Monday.
St Mirren’s Alex Gogic would have been a prime candidate to step in, but he withdrew from the squad due to injury; Anorthosis Famagusta midfielder Andreas Chrysostomou is also unavailable.
Set to start up front, AIK striker Ioannis Pittas had a particularly productive year in Sweden’s Allsvenskan, and he should link up with Hellas Verona forward Grigoris Kastanos once again.
Romania possible starting lineup:
Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Burca, Bancu; R. Marin, Olaru, Stanciu; Man, Dragus, Hagi
Cyprus possible starting lineup:
Dimitriou; Karo, Andreou, Panagiotou, Ioannou; Kousoulos, Artymatas; Loizou, Kastanos, Tzionis; Pittas
We say: Romania 3-1 Cyprus
Last month’s meeting demonstrated the gap between the two nations, with Romania recently enjoying a renaissance and Cyprus continuing to toil outside the world’s top 100.
While the Tricolorii must await the outcome of a UEFA investigation into their penultimate Group 2 fixture, there should be no doubts about the outcome of their last one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
