Article by Mihai Șovei – Published Thursday, November 13, 2025, 3:36 p.m. / Updated Thursday, November 13, 2025, 3:38 p.m.
Adrian Ilie (51 years old), the former Romanian international, is confident before the match of the National Team in Bosnia. “Cobra” is of the opinion that Mircea Lucescu's national team can play a good match and qualify for the World Championship following the play-off in March next year. The former striker believes that Ianis Hagi is the fittest player in the Romanian team and that he can make the difference.
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Bosnia – Romania, the penultimate match of the WC 2026 preliminaries, will be played on Saturday, November 15, from 21:45
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The Zenica duel will be liveTEXT on GSP.ro, with real-time information from Gazeta Sporturilor reporters present at the stadium, and live on Prima TV
Adrian Ilie: “We have the best coach of all time”
The former great striker of Romania is of the opinion that Romania can play a big game on the field of Bosnia and qualify for the World Championship in 2026, following the play-offs in March next year. He is confident in the coaching qualities of Mircea Lucescu, but also in the leadership qualities of Ianis Hagi. He spoke to TVR Sport before Saturday night's duel.
We now have an important match in Bosnia, we were playing the play-off matches, with more attention to the young people coming from behind we can form a good group and have continuity in the qualifications. We had a tough opponent and they mounted well and we won against Austria, there is another step in Bosnia to win there and the World Championship qualifier. I believe in them, they proved that it is possible, they went to the EURO, they formed a good group, they have a good coach, the best of the moment and of all time… let's have faith.
– Adrian Ilia
“Cobra” is of the opinion that Ianis is the fittest player in the group and that maybe he can make the difference after the good performance in the match against Austria, in which Romania prevailed 1-0.
“Ianis seems to me to be the fittest, he also scored in Turkey, he played very well with Austria, we hope he will keep it that way. He is a leader, Ianis is a leader”, added Adrian Ilie.
