Article by Cosmin Nistor – Published on Wednesday, 12 November 2025, 22:02 / Updated on Wednesday, 12 November 2025 22:02
Darko Maletic (45 years old), former Bosnian international and ex-player of FC Vaslui, spoke before the duel between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania, scheduled for Saturday, November 15, in Zenica, in the preliminaries of the 2026 World Championship.
The former midfielder, who scored five goals for the Moldovan group in 2006, analyzed the two teams' chances in an interview with Bosnian media.
Darko Maletic, former FC Vaslui player: “The Romanians have improved, we have to be careful”
“It's always difficult with Romanians. I remember that when we were playing, we lost in Bucharest 3-0, but at home we won 2-1, after we were leading at half-time.
It's never easy with them. Back then they had a much better team, with Marica, Mutu and many other valuable players”, said Darko Maletić, for sportsport.ba.
The Bosnian was surprised after the 1-0 victory over Austria: “They played very well!”
The former player from FC Vaslui admitted that he was impressed by the evolution of the tricolors in the last match of the qualifiers:
“At the beginning of the preliminaries they didn't convince me, but in the last match, against Austria, they surprised me! They played well and showed they deserved to get here, especially after we lost in Cyprus.
Their chances have increased a lot now. I expect a very difficult matchespecially since we have problems with injuries… The situation is not easy.
“The Romanians showed a lot of good things with Austria and we have to take that into account. They are not a harmless team at all, we have to be very careful”, said Maletic, the former Bosnian international.
Bosnia – Romania, fiery duel in Zenica
The match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania will be played on Saturday, November 15, from 9:45 p.m., at the Bilino Polje stadium in Zenica, in the penultimate stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The match will be broadcast liveTEXT on GSP.ro.
Romania's team for the matches with Bosnia and San Marino
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Goalkeepers: Ionuț RADU (Celta de Vigo | Spain, 6/0), Ștefan TâRNOVANU (FCSB, 3/0), Marian AIOANI (FC Rapid 1923, 0/0);
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defense: Andrei RAțIU (Rayo Vallecano | Spain, 34/1), Deian SORESCU (Gaziantep FK | Turkey, 23/0), Virgil GHIȚĂ (Hannover 96 | Germany, 6/1), Bogdan RACOVIȚAN (Raków | Poland, 4/0), Adrian RUS (Universitatea Craiova, 22/1), Lisav EISSAT (Maccabi Haifa | Israel, 1/0), Nicușor BANCU (Universitatea Craiova, 49/2), Alexandru CHIPCIU (Cluj University, 48/6)
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midfielders: Marius MARIN (Pisa | Italy, 34/0), Vladimir SCRECIU (Universitatea Craiova, 5/0), Răzvan MARIN (AEK Athens | Greece, 70/12), Vlad DRAGOMIR (Paphos | Cyprus, 3/0), Ianis HAGI (Alanyaspor | Turkey, 49/7), Florin TĂNASE (FCSB, 24/5), Darius OLARU (FCSB, 26/0), Dennis MAN (PSV | Netherlands, 41/10), David MICULESCU (FCSB, 5/0), Valentin MIHĂILĂ (Caykur Rizespor | Turkey, 32/5), Ștefan BAIARAM (Universitatea Craiova, 1/0), Claudiu PETRILA (FC Rapid 1923, 1/0);
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Strikers: Denis DRĂGUȘ (Eyüpspor | Turkey, 26/7), Daniel BÎRLIGEA (FCSB, 5/1), Louis MUNTEANU (CFR Cluj, 3/1).
