Article by Aurelian Botezatu – published on Sunday, June 08, 2025, 07:43 / Updated Sunday, June 08, 2025 07:46
The tricolors recorded the second defeat in the preliminaries CM 2026, 1-2 with Austriain Vienna, and the journalists from Kurier and the Austrian players explain how they overturned the situation.
The Austrians admit that the beginning of the party on “Ernst Happel” belonged to the tricolors. “We can be satisfied with the victory. The Romanians played well in the first 20 or 25 minutes, then better controlled them and took over the lead. After the break, it was ok, but we had to complete a few attacks,” said midfielder Marcel Sabitzer.
Der Kurier: “The Romanians acted aggressively at the start of the party”
How Mircea Lucescu's players lost the control explains the Austrian daily der Kurier. “The Romanians acted aggressively at the start of the match, physically and mentally agile, quickly changed the positions and immediately sought a way to penetrate the depth.
Rantnick's players took some time to take control of the game. With increased pressure and possession, they forced the Romanians to make mistakes And, gradually, they also became dangerous ”, analyzed the quoted publication.
The representative of Romania returned dangerously in front of the Austrian portion at 0-2, at the end, when he managed to reduce from the handicap through Florin Tanase (90+4), and Kurier acknowledges that at the final whistle of the referee “we have breathed in relief”. This is also recognized by Christoph Baumgartner: “Relief is huge. We all know how important the opening matches are”.
OE24.AT: “Romania is already 6 points behind Austria”
The conclusion was drawn by the daily “Oestereich24.at”: “It means that Romania, present in the finals of Euro 2024 and considered the most fierce rival of Austria's representative after drawing the 2026 World Cup Preliminaries, is already six points behind Austria regarding the lost points.”
The “tricolors” began the preliminaries with the left, through a failure on the national arena in front of Bosnia (0-1). The next match of Mircea Lucescu's players is scheduled on June 10, at home, against the representative of Cyprus.
The ranking in group H
